Deliveries
by MikariStar
Summary: The adventures of Cloud Strife! Being a delivery boy is much harder than it looks.
1. Chapter 1

The adventures of Cloud Strife, being a delivery boy is much harder than it looks.

Deliveries

Delivery 01: Championship Belt

Cloud Strife parked his motorcycle, Fenrir, as close as possible to the cart that would take him to the Gold Saucer. For reasons unknown to him, there was a large crowd gathered there that day. Cloud picked up the box he was to deliver to Dio, and pushed his way through the crowds to board the cart.

He clutched the box close to his body, hoping its unknown contents were not fragile. Now he knew how canned meat felt, pressed between the wall and the people around him. He could have sworn someone's hand brushed him, several times, in a non-accidental way, but he had no idea whose hand it was and thus preferred not to think about it, making an effort to convince himself that it was mere accident.

When the cart was emptied at the Gold Saucer, which left Cloud flattened on the floor after being stepped on by the crowd, his nightmare was far from over. A long line formed in front of the entrance, which Cloud skipped since he was not a customer, he was only there to make a delivery.

"Where do you think you're going?" A large hand pulled Cloud by the back of his shirt. "Cutting in line is so insensitive, but walking by without even saying hello is even more hurtful!" The tall muscular man pulled Cloud into a big bear hug before the delivery boy could protest.

When Cloud was finally free, as if he hasn't been crushed enough at the cart, the delivery boy simply gave the man an odd look and promptly turned around to be well on his way.

"Wait! Aren't you going to say anything?" The man pulled Cloud back.

"I don't know you!" Cloud mentally counted to ten, his patience nearly dry. It took an incredible amount of control to stop himself from slicing this man to pieces.

"How could you say that?" The man dramatized in a suddenly high pitched voice, his eyes becoming watery. But with another sudden mood swing, the man's face brightened. "It's the hair isn't it?" He ran his fingers through his long brunette hair. "You don't recognize me because I changed my hair style. C'mon take a good look."

Cloud backed away as the man leaned close to him. "I have to go now..."

"Mukki!" The muscular man finally revealed his identity. "You remember now, right? I'm Mukki, from the Honey Bee Inn!"

Cloud's eyes went wide as he muttered, "Mukki..."

"Yes, you do remember!" Mukki gave Cloud another hug. "It's been such a long time; we must catch up!"

Cloud slipped out of the embrace and continued to back away, "a delivery, I have to make a delivery!" Then he ran for dear life leaving Mukki talking to himself at the line.

"You have to wait in line, sir," the employee at the entrance instructed.

"I'm here to make a delivery," Cloud tried to explain.

"You have wait in line, sir." She repeated as if she had not heard Cloud at all.

"I'm not here to visit the Gold Saucer; I'm here to make a delivery to Dio." Cloud just wanted to finish his job and get out of there, the noisy crowd and creepy experiences were really bothering him.

"Security!" The girl yelled.

A tall muscular man wearing sparkly purple came out and pushed Cloud back by the shoulders. But Cloud had more unwanted physical contact than he could take in one day and shoved the man away with all his might. The bouncer went flying back and crashed against a wall with a hash impact that knocked him out.

There was a collective gasp from the crowd, followed by a mixture of cheering, critiques and loud gossip. The commotion brought out Dio, who shook his head in disapproval at the state of his bouncer. "I was supposed to wrestle that guy as part of the show."

"Sorry Dio, here's your package." Cloud did not expect to receive a tip after what happened, so he intended to leave right after tossing the flattened box into Dio's arms.

But Dio stopped him. "Wait just a minute, do you know what's in here? A championship belt, I had it specially made. This would have been the belt that the winner of the wrestling match would take home. You knocked out my opponent so you'll have to take his place."

At first Cloud didn't think it was so bad, since he was used to fighting, and he thought wrestling would be the same but without a sword. But even if Dio would forever think of him as a coward and ban him from the Gold Saucer, Cloud ran away as fast as he could when he saw the sparkly pink underwear that would have been his attire during the wrestling match.

End of Delivery 01

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 01 was requested by Hikou. I'm taking drabble requests, post a place and item, I might use them for a drabble. :D

xoxox xox xoxox

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	2. Chapter 2

Deliveries

Deliver 02: Spear

It was Cloud's first job with that particular delivery company, and if he did well, he could permanently become one of their delivery boys. That's why he made sure to take extra good care of the long thin box he was supposed to deliver to Cid in Rocket Town, and rushed there to take the package to its owner as fast as possible.

Fenrir came to a screeching halt in front of Cid's house. Cloud rang the doorbell and Shera opened the door. "Welcome Cloud, come in, would you like some tea?" Through Cid wasn't there to tell Shera she should serve their guests tea, she had grown into the habit of doing so.

"No thanks, I just need to deliver this package to Cid." Cloud suspected right away that Cid wasn't around. Otherwise the pilot would have already dragged the delivery boy inside the house and ordered him to sit down and drink his 'damn tea'.

Then Shera confirmed it, "Cid went out; he's testing the airship after making some repairs, so he might not be back for a while. I can take the package for him though."

Cloud handed Shera the package and she carefully placed it inside the house, leaving the door open for Cloud. "Are you sure you don't want tea?"

Cloud went inside, closing the door and taking a seat at the table. "I guess so, thanks. I need to wait for Cid anyway, to have him sign this." He held up a clipboard.

"I could sign it for him," Shera offered.

"It has to be signed by Cid," Cloud explained. They had specifically instructed him at the agency to give the packages to their owners, not their spouse, siblings, roommates or friends. He bended the rules and gave the package to Shera, after all she was more careful than Cid anyway. But the fact remained that he still needed Cid's signature and no one else's signature would do.

Though Cloud had other packages to deliver, he stayed in Rocket Town and drank some tea while he waited for Cid to arrive and sign. In retrospect, he should have continued his deliveries and come back for the signature later, or even better, he should have allowed Shera to sign for the package, because by a mocking twist of fate she would end up signing for it anyway.

It wasn't until several hours later that Cid arrived. Cloud was already late with the rest of his deliveries and it would be impossible to make the deadline, thus he wouldn't be getting that permanent job.

The delivery boy didn't know if he should be angry at Cid or at himself, then finally settled for both when Cid received the clipboard and pen, and handed both items to Shera. "It has to be your signature," Cloud reminded Cid.

But the pilot was busy tearing the box apart, itching to go out and test his new spear. "I'm busy now. Besides, Shera always signs things for me; she can forge my signature perfectly."

"But-" Cloud began to protest.

However, Cid was quick to silence him. "If I say it's okay, then it's okay."

Shera signed for the package in Cid's name and Cloud mentally kicked himself.

End of Delivery 02

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 02 was requested by Snow, a spear and Rocket Town. 


	3. Chapter 3

Deliveries

Delivery 03: Computer

"Can you set that up? That commuter thing?" The chocobo farmer, who didn't look like a very tech savvy person at all, pointed at the computer that Strife Delivery Service just brought.

"It's a computer and my job is only to delivery it." Cloud wasn't in the mood, besides, he had better things to occupy his time.

"I'll give you a nice big tip for that!" But the farmer had money.

And Cloud had an empty wallet starving for some gil. "If you insist..." How hard could it be?

Cloud unpacked the desktop computer and started to set it up. Those machines were made so that things could only be plugged in the right place, because all the plugs were different and they wouldn't fit anywhere else. The few plugs that were similar, speakers, microphone and headphones, were color coded, the speakers were green, the microphone pink and the headphones blue.

"Okay, it's all plugged in now, you just need to put this cable in an electric outlet and you're good to go." Cloud expectantly waited for his payment and tip.

The chocobo farmer gave Cloud a confused look. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"That electric outlet thing, didn't you deliver it?"

Cloud's eyes went wide; it couldn't be that they didn't have any electricity in the farm; that was just inhuman. "What do you use to provide light at night?"

"Candles."

"What about cooking?"

"Gas stove." Well at least the farmer didn't say camp fire.

Cloud shook his head. Who in their right mind didn't have electricity, or television, or videogames, or cell phones or email or even a refrigerator? "You'll need an electric generator."

"Didn't you deliver it?" The chocobo farmer clearly had no idea what Cloud was talking about.

"No, you only asked me to deliver the computer!" Cloud attempted to reason with him.

"I told you to deliver everything the commuter needed. Didn't you deliver it?"

"It's a computer and yes, I delivered everything, the processor, monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, and everything."

"Then why doesn't it work?"

Cloud took a deep breath and counted to ten, "because you need electricity."

"Didn't you deliver it?"

"No, I didn't deliver it!" Cloud yelled, his patience running dry.

"Well then, if you didn't deliver it," the chocobo farmer continued in his monotonous voice, "then I can't pay you, because you need to finish your delivery."

"I did finish my delivery!"

"Then why doesn't the commuter work?"

"It's a computer, not a commuter, and I already told you, it doesn't work because it needs electricity!"

"But you didn't deliver it..."

"I wasn't supposed to deliver it! You're supposed to buy an electric generator separately and have someone else deliver it. This is my entire delivery right here!" Cloud yelled at the top of his lugs.

The chocobos outside replied with a loud chorus of "wark!" and Cloud felt as if he would have been better off explaining it to them.

There was a long silence and then, in the incredibly annoying monotone the chocobo farmer finally spoke, "well why didn't you say so? When's the next delivery coming?"

"I don't know," Cloud twitched.

"Honestly, kids these days don't know anything..."

End of Delivery 03

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 03 was requested by Nique, a computer and the Chocobo Farm. 


	4. Chapter 4

Deliveries

Delivery 04: Mistake

-Ding dong!- "Strife delivery service!" Cloud felt silly ringing the door bell and calling that out, but hey, it was an honest job.

Tseng opened the door, "it's about time!" He snatched the package from Cloud and shut the door; he didn't have any time to spare.

Cloud huffed, "no tip?" He hoped that karma would take its vengeance on Tseng.

xoxox xox xoxox

Tseng smiled, knowing he got it right, he found a gift that he knew Elena would love. They had been on a mission together when they took a break for lunch and passed the glass display of a boutique while walking towards a restaurant. "It's so pretty." Elena had said, pointing at the dress on the display. But she didn't go inside the store. With a quick glance at her watch she realized that they didn't have a lot of time. "We should have lunch before it's time to continue the mission." It was her desire to be a good Turk; she always gave the extra mile and didn't slack off.

The atmosphere was perfect, Elena had gladly accepted the invitation to dinner at Tseng's house, she was in a cheerful mood and so was he. After the mission was over, Tseng had secretly gone back to the boutique and bought the dress Elena liked. However, they only had the one on display left, which was subject to the punishment of the glaring Costa Del Sol sun and though it still looked like it was I fine conditions, its color had began to be washed away by the sun. As a result Tseng ordered another dress of the same kind to be delivered to his home so he could give it to Elena.

When Cloud arrived with the package, Tseng didn't even bother checking it, since it was almost time for Elena to arrive. He simply wrapped the box in gift paper and had it ready to be given to Elena. "I have a gift for you."

Elena's face brightened even more and Tseng handed her the package. "Thank you!" She blushed like a school girl, infinitely happy with Tseng's gesture. Tseng was confident and pleased, as Elena tore the wrapping apart, then opened the box. "What in the world is this?"

Then Tseng's confidence fell. Didn't Elena say she liked the dress? But when he looked at the contents of the box, he realized why Elena was so displeased. "That's not... I didn't..."

"Is this is kind of joke?" Elena grabbed the toiled plunger waving it at Tseng threateningly.

"That's not supposed to be there! They must have sent the wrong package. The gift was supposed to be that dress you liked from Costa del Sol!" Tseng tried to explain.

Elena gave Tseng a long look then finally tossed the plunger back into its box. "I'll take your word for it."

Though Elena did forgive Tseng for the misunderstanding, the atmosphere was ruined and the date wasn't as romantic as Tseng planned it out to be. The Turk leader didn't know how, but he would find a way to kill Cloud for this, and until then he wished all bad karma upon the delivery boy.

End of Delivery 04

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 04 was requested by Feather-wolf. 


	5. Chapter 5

Deliveries

Delivery 05: Sparkly Pink Thing

It was sparkly and it was pink, and it made Cloud Strife twitch. He didn't like it, he didn't expect it, and he certainly did not intend to keep it, let alone wear it.

But then Tifa got a hold of it and gave Cloud a strange look. "This is..." she trailed off into silence unable to identify the foreign object. "This is..." she never did finish that sentence as she originally intended to, for she did not know the answer. Instead Tifa pointed out the information she gathered from the names written on the package that the mail man, Cloud's competition, had brought. "From Dio?"

It was address the Cloud from Dio indeed, a regular box, sent through the regular mail, with not so regular contents. Cloud grumbles silently about the post office putting him out of business, while leaving his open package unattended on the counter for Tifa to stare at strangely. The frustrated delivery opened it and didn't even bother looking, he had to avert his eyes from the package delivered by the competition if only for a moment.

"Cloud..."

-Grumble, grumble.-

"Cloud..."

-Grumble, grumble.-

"Cloud..."

-Grumble, grumble.-

"Cloud!"

Cloud snapped into attention. Looked at Tifa, observed the weirded-out look on her face, then blinked twice before replying, "yes?"

"What is this?" Tifa pointed at the thing inside the box, it was sparkly, it was pink, and it was odd.

"Um..." Cloud didn't know what to make of it. That thing, whatever it may be, that strange sparkly pink thing, was from Dio, world famous wrestler, theme park owner, collector of oddities and quite an oddball himself.

"Well, what is it? It is addressed to you," Tifa reminded.

"Um..." Cloud tilted his head and extended his gloved finger. "Well..." He poked the pink sparkly thing, "it's..." he poked it again, "odd."

"Yes, I can tell," Tifa rolled her eyes. "But what is it?"

Cloud shrugged, "I don't know, I didn't buy it, it must be a gift or a mistake," and he saw a note inside the box which he picked up and read aloud. "In recognition of your skills," was it a peace offering maybe? Was it an item to reestablish the friendship that was never truly established in the first place?

Tifa raised an eyebrow and waited for Cloud to give her more details, but the short note revealed nothing more. "Where are you going to put it?"

Cloud looked at Tifa as if she grew a second head, "in the closet of course!" He couldn't very well throw the strange sparkly pink thing away, it was a gift after all, but there was no way he would display the strange unknown item anywhere. The thing was odd, it was weird, it was strange and it was bizarre.

Tifa shook her head, "really Cloud, it's a gift, some sort of exotic abstract sparkly pink sculpture or something."

"Or something," Cloud nodded at that, because he couldn't bring himself to call that thing art. "Do you want me to display it somewhere?"

Tifa looked at the thing in the box again, "on second thought, it will be better preserved in the depths of your closet."

End of Delivery 05

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. 


	6. Chapter 6

Deliveries

Delivery 06: Candle

Though Cloud was reluctant to set foot in the Gold Saucer again, due to past experiences involving running into Mukki there, and Dio sending Cloud an odd sparkly thing; the delivery boy went anyway, to do his job.

The delivery was simple enough, Cloud had to take a candle to the ghost hotel and light it. The candle had some faint marks that he couldn't quite see. It was probably one of those candles that revealed its hidden message when it was lit.

Cloud arrived at the hotel, but it was strangely cheerful. Sure it had all the Halloween-like decorations that it kept all year around, the old-looking furniture, the webs, the false ghosts and the hanged employees. Everything was there, yet the atmosphere carried an unexplainable cheer. Cloud concluded it must have been the sound.

The eerie ghostly wails and mystery movie style noises that were recorded to play over and over in the lobby, were lost to the happy chatter of a group of girls. "He's here!" One of them noticed Cloud, "did you bring the candle?"

"Yes," Cloud was about to give her the candle but the girl refused it.

"Don't forget the contract; you have to light it; this way." Cloud followed the group of girls to one of the hotel rooms. They pointed to a miniature model of the Nibelheim reactor, "put the candle here," specifically where Jenova would be.

Cloud unconsciously took a step back before forcing himself to move forward. He had a very bad feeling about this, which he attributed to the model of the reactor and his own past with it. But it was illogical to think it had any meaning, it was a simple coincidence, and Cloud forced himself to place the candle in the chamber of Jenova.

The girls waited impatiently, and Cloud's foreboding feeling increased, but his business wasn't doing very well and he needed the gil. As soon as the candle was lit, he planned to collect his pay and bolt out of there without looking back. Whatever strange club activities, experiment or witchcraft the girls intended to do, they could do it without him.

Cloud was given a lighter which he used to light the odd green candle that looked as if it was made of life stream, but that was impossible, right? He focused on this task, careful not the burn the cardboard and plastic reactor model. When he turned his attention to the girls again, he nearly felt his heart stop at what he saw. Cloaks, they were all wearing black cloaks, and he almost expected them to start chanting, "reunion!"

However, the mood remained strangely cheerful among them, each girl carrying a happy smile. But even if the girls were in a good mood, Cloud became terrified when they really did start to chant "Reunion! Reunion! Reunion!" Surrounding Cloud and the reactor model.

The frightened delivery boy looked at the candle, the names of Jenova and Sephiroth becoming clear on it. Then the leader of the strange girls spoke, "hear our call, oh great mother Jenova and give birth to Sephiroth once again. Oh great Sephiroth, we offer you this sacrifice, come into our world and bring vengeance upon your enemy, Cloud Strife!"

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Cloud pushed past the creepy girls and ran like a manic. It wasn't so much Sephiroth that frightened him; it was the strange fan girls. Cloud dashed out of the hotel, and out of the Gold Saucer, still shrieking like a tortured soul. He got on Fenrir and drove to the Seventh Heaven well over the speed limit... and with all of that, he forgot to collect his pay.

End of Delivery 06.

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 06 was requested by Cherri. 


	7. Chapter 7

Deliveries

Delivery 07: Violin

Cloud had it with creepy places. He wished he could deliver packages to normal houses, with normal people, who gave him an above normal tip. But instead he found himself in a place that brought back painful memories, the Shinra Mansion. However, he couldn't refuse this delivery; it was for a comrade after all. Although, Cloud could not imagine what could Vincent want with a violin.

Breathing deeply, Cloud ventured deeper into the abandoned mansion, listening as the floor creaked with each step he took. "Vincent!" There was no reply. "Vincent!" Still nothing, frowning, Cloud continued his search. He didn't really want to go into the basement alone. He was still traumatized by the incident with the Sephiroth fan girls and expected them to pop out of any dark corner. "Vincent!"

Cloud considered leaving the violin and asking Vincent to mail his gil, or transfer it to his savings account, or something, but he really needed it right away. He shook his head and told himself to be brave; the only place left to search was the basement where Vincent most likely was.

Clutching the violin like a comfort plushie, though a hard one, Cloud went down the stairs to finish his delivery job. One of the old steps collapsed under his weight and nearly sent him falling to his doom, or at least to a few broken bones and a shattered violin. But fortunately, Cloud, ever the agile Soldier First Class, if only in his mind, managed to save both himself and the violin, and climb back to the steps, safely continuing his descent into the basement.

Just as he thought, Cloud did in fact find Vincent in the basement, sleeping in a coffin. "Vincent!" Cloud called loudly.

"Five more minutes daddy..." Vincent grumbled before finally realizing that he was not a young Turk in training anymore, and the one calling was not Grimore Valentine but Cloud Strife. "The violin," Vincent spoke as seriously as he could.

Cloud's surprised and weirded out look was overlooked, indicating that Vincent fully intended to ignore the recent odd incident upon his awakening, and no amount of insistence on Cloud's part would make Vincent come close to admitting that it happened. "Here it is."

"Very good, this is your pay, as well as compensation for your trouble coming to this location." Vincent took the violin and handed over the gil.

"Thanks!" Cloud was relieved, his job was over and he actually got his pay and a tip this time, so he could leave. But against his better judgment he didn't leave. "Why do you need a violin anyway?" Curiosity killed the cat, and if Cloud didn't learn to control his, it would also kill the delivery boy.

"To calm the spirits in the mansion," Vincent explained. "Music, especially that of an elegant and classic instrument, can be calming to wandering spirits."

"Wandering spirits?" Cloud repeated, he really hoped Vincent was kidding, but luck was not on his side.

The ghosts of some of the people who had been experimented on and sacrificed in the mansion who were unable to pass away, came out of hiding, passing through the walls, ceiling and various items as Vincent attempted to play the violin and failed miserably because of his golden claw.

The violin's strings snapped, but instead of being relieved, the ghosts continued their rampage while Cloud helplessly slashed at them with his sword. "It doesn't work!"

Vincent observed the angry ghosts and the way Cloud's sword went right through them. "Of course, they are ghosts with no physical body so your sword cannot harm them, but they can harm us." He looked at the broken and scratched violin in disappointment and spoke so calmly that it didn't match the situation at all, "I suggest we leave."

"Suggestion accepted!" Cloud and Vincent hurried out of the mansion chased by the angry ghosts that Vincent had awakened.

Vincent merely wanted to help them. He thought that doing that good deed would be a more effective step towards redemption than simply taking another long nap, but it didn't work out. Nevertheless, when they made it out of the mansion and the ghosts followed them into the sunlight, they were calmed and finally passed away ending their torment. "It worked..."

The sunlight shone upon the abandoned mansion, dissipating all the eerie feelings it might have possessed. As the ghosts vanished, the two men watching concluded that maybe there was a little hope left in their world after all.

End of Delivery 07

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 07 was requested by Snow, the keywords were violin, Vincent, Shinra Mansion and hope. 


	8. Chapter 8

Deliveries

Delivery 08: Deadly Game

The box was small, which instead of calming Cloud, it made him suspect. He handled the box with the outmost care, as if fearing that a sudden movement would make it explode.

"It's an emergency!" Reno had said before Tseng snatched the PHS away.

"Cloud, I have a mission for you," the leader spoke seriously. "I have already contacted someone at Shinra; if you go to the lobby and speak to the receptionist you will receive a box. Deliver it to us in Rocket Town."

"I'm telling you, you don't need to do that!" Cid's voice was heard in the background, along with the sound of items being tossed aside, it was very suspicious indeed.

"Hurry," was Tseng's last word before the communication was ended.

Cloud did pick up the box. The receptionist looked calm, provably had no idea what this was about. But Cloud had a theory and it wasn't looking good. He assumed that the box contained some sort of miniature explosive that was super powerful despite its compacted size. Or maybe it was the control that would detonate a previously hidden bomb. Cloud didn't know, and he didn't want to find out the hard way.

None the less, he couldn't very well leave the box in the hands of Shinra, so he pretended to accept his delivery mission and took it. Then he hurried to Rocket Town to get some answers, Cid sounded like he knew something, in fact, he sounded as if he could be in trouble. But the pilot could hold his own in a fight and he should be fine as long as the Turks didn't have the box, now in Cloud's possession.

The delivery boy was tired, exhausted even, but this was no time to rest. Upon his arrival in Rocket Town, Cloud carefully cradled the box in his hands and searched for Cid, sneaking around as if expecting to be ambushed. Shinra was supposed to be reformed, but apparently that was no longer true.

Quietly and quickly, Cloud snuck into Cid's backyard, hiding behind the latest airplane Cid was working on. He softly opened the back door and peeked in. "Cid? Shera?" Cloud whispered, but there was no answer. He listened and heard voices, laughter, and sounds that didn't quite fit in with the situation he theorize was taking place.

Cloud entered the house, tiptoeing towards the source of the sound. He observed the group that was apparently carefree. A yawn escaped Cloud, much louder than he intended, and the Turks and pilot noticed his precense.

"Didn't hear you come in Cloud," the house was a mess, but Cid didn't seem to mind. It looked like there really had been an assault, save for the fact that the Turks were happily sitting around Cid's table eating the snacks Shera brought them, and Cid didn't mind that fact.

"What happened here? What is this?" Cloud held up the little box.

Cid took the box and Cloud gasped at the pilot's careless handling of the tiny box. "I lost my playing cards. I told Tseng he didn't have to send for another deck because I was sure I would find them, but I never did." Cid explained, opening the little box to reveal that it contained a deck of cards.

"Hey Cid, are we going to play sometime this century?" Reno complained. He was tired of waiting and so were the other Turks.

"Shut up and drink your tea, I'm coming." Cid shuffled the cards as he walked to the table. "Hey spiky, are you staying too?"

Cloud could only blink and nod dumbly. He rushed to make this delivery, despite being in desperate need of rest, and it turned out that there was no battle, no danger, no secret attacks and no explosives, just a normal deck of cards.

End of Delivery 08

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 08 was requested by Snow, about a deck of playing cards. 


	9. Chapter 9

Deliveries

Delivery 09: An Unwelcome Favor

"Delivery for Reno," Cloud called out, but it was Rude who opened the door.

"Next door," the bald Turk quietly spoke.

"Um, sorry," Cloud went off to deliver the package to the correct address this time, and was about to knock on the door when he spotted a note attached to said door. The delivery boy read the note aloud, "I'm not here, leave my package with Rude." He shrugged and returned to Rude's door, knocking on it again.

Rude opened the door and found Cloud, whom he had sent away a mere few seconds ago.

"Reno left a note on the door saying I should leave his package with you." Cloud handed Rude the box.

Rude received it, this was nothing new coming from Reno. "Sign?"

"Oh yes, you need to sign this, well Reno is supposed to sign it, but I think it's okay if you sign it in his name." Cloud had learned that sometimes a fake signature looked more real than a real one, especially when the one with the real signature was lazy and got someone else to sign for him all the time. Reno wasn't the only one who did that, and Cloud had learned from experience not to say no a forged signature.

Rude signed the receipt, kept the package, and Cloud went on his way.

The same scenario was repeated several times over the past few evenings. It continued until one day Cloud was able to catch Reno returning to his apartment after a mission. "Reno!"

The redhead, rushed to get inside, closed the door and locked it.

Needless to say, Cloud was surprised by the action. "Reno, your package!"

There was no answer.

"Reno!" Cloud continued to call.

Still, there was no answer.

"Reno!" Cloud would not give up.

Realizing that he had no choice, Reno finally replied, "read the note!"

But Cloud continued knocking on the door, "I already read it, but this time you're here!"

"Do what the note says!" Reno insisted.

"Why?" Cloud was tired of bothering Rude with Reno's packages. How lazy could the redhead be? Besides, the entire situation looked suspicious, and Cloud was starting to think that Reno was up to some mischief.

"Because you know you want to," Reno's answer was as confusing as it could be.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked.

Reno opened the door of his apartment a few inches and peeked out at the puzzled Cloud, "go, I'm doing you a favor, so go."

"A favor? You're not even the one paying for these packages, it's some guy called Kurt Nores that keeps sending you things..." Cloud paused, Kurt Nores... if the letters were rearranged it spelled Reno Turks. "Why would you mail yourself?"

"So you have the chance to talk to Rude. I don't think things are going well with Tifa, so I'm helping you both get over your broken hearts together as friends who share the same pain... and I'm amusing myself at the same time," Reno admitted.

With mischievous, gossip spreading people like Reno around, Cloud would never be allowed to have peace. The delivery boy didn't know how it was possible that Rude had not killed Reno yet. However, Cloud did not have Rude's patience, and that is how Reno ended up running for his life again.

End of Delivery 09

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. 


	10. Chapter 10

Deliveries

Delivery 10: Feathered Fedora

Cloud was told to handle the packages with care, and he did, thus they arrived intact, not flattened like Tseng had feared. However, that was the least of the Turk's worries at the moment. Cloud was greeted by Tseng's voice saying "I can't believe Rufus backed out of this." He was wearing a silly costume reminiscent of old times, the 1920's, the 1950', the 1800's or even further away, Cloud did not know.

"Delivery..." Cloud spoke softly as he entered the Shinra auditorium, his voice echoing in its emptiness. "For Tseng..." he finished.

"Tseng received the package and paid the bill as naturally as can be, despite his overly elaborate suit, and paused only to look at Cloud with a plan reflected in his eyes. The delivery boy backed away slowly, soon breaking into a run. He had to reach Fenrir parked outside; then they wouldn't be able to catch him after that.

"Stay," it was funny how Rude's voice sounded so commanding, as the command would be more fitting for a dog than a human. But when Cloud ran straight into the taller man, he had no choice but to stay, because the Turk was blocking his path.

To add to the irony Cloud could only whimper, "why?"

"Because Rufus got stage fright," Tseng replied, with a very evil glint in his eyes that showed his wish of making the world suffer as much as he was about to suffer.

"It's not so bad," Elena tried to be optimistic, but it was impossible to decipher if her words were meant for Cloud, who was surrounded by the four Turks, or for her fellow Turks who suffered the same predicament she was in. Her dress was just as silly as their suits and they were all set to partake in a play that night.

"Loveless!" Reno cheered as if he was happy, or at least amused, by the possibility of acting out the play he didn't even understand. But far from being reassured by the redhead's confidence, the leader only worried more, thinking that Reno would do something stupid and uncalled for on the stage, forget his lines, or cause disaster one way or another.

"Loveless?" Cloud repeated unsure, as if that one word would be his doom, and for all he knew it might be. "Loveless!" He spoke again when the meaning finally sunk in. Rufus got stage fright, or so they said, but truth or not, the point was that the pretty boy president backed out and left the Turks to find another actor to replace him in their odd interpretation of the classic Loveless, for the sake of showing Shinra's good will.

While Rude dragged Cloud away to ensure that he got into his costume and understood that he would be hunted down if he escaped, Tseng opened up the packages and handed out the feathered hats. The hat only made Tseng feel even sillier, and when Cloud came back in his ridiculous old style suit, he felt silly with his suit and hat as well.

The two that were least affected were Reno and Rude. Though Elena didn't need to wear a silly hat herself but her dress was festive enough. Reno was amused by the feather and proceeded to play with it, while Tseng continuously warned him not to ruin it. Rude was simply thankful to have something on his head. The bald Turk didn't wear hats, he didn't hide his lack of hair, but now he had an excuse to cover his head and for that he was thankful; especially because the air conditioner was very cold, and those with hair simply did not understand what it was like to get a brain freeze without ice-cream.

End of Delivery 10

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 10 was requested by Kaeghlighn. 


	11. Chapter 11

Deliveries

Delivery 11: Clock Parts

It was the second time that week that Cloud had attempted to kill Reno, and the week wasn't even half over, though Cloud wasn't the only one who was trying to kill Reno that week. Some would think the redhead had nine lives, or nine thousand lives, because the amount of miraculous escapes he made was truly amazing. Yet, even with so many close calls, Reno never learned to be quiet.

It wasn't that he was trying to cause Cloud any harm, not this time. In fact, Reno was only trying to help. But alas, Reno is Reno, and something is bound to go wrong, simply because he is Reno.

Cloud's delivery was rather simple in the sense that the item to be delivered was nothing dangerous, overly fragile, or alive, though he was advised to be careful with it. The route was one that Cloud knew well, he had gone from Midgar to Kalm and back again many times over his career as a delivery boy. However, there was a catch, because just like there's always trouble when Reno is involved, there is always a catch when Cloud is involved. This time the catch was a race.

Cloud had taken one look at the competition and assumed victory would be his. The clock parts he was supposed to transport were crucial for the newly developed clock making industry of Kalm and needed to be delivered on time... no pun intended. So to choose a delivery boy for this task, a race was held. Competing against a mailman in an oversized van and a kid in a bicycle, Cloud thought he had this in the bag... but he was wrong.

"Cloud!" When Cloud arrived with the first clock part, out of the five that had to be delivered from different locations and times that day, he found Reno and ignored him. But Reno didn't like being ignored and jumped in front of Cloud. "Didn't you hear me?"

"I'm busy working," Cloud didn't stop walking.

"I know all about the race and I'll help," Reno offered. "I know this great shortcut-"

"Stop!" Cloud hurried his pace and continued hastily walking towards the Kalm clock store, almost running.

"Listen to me," Reno insisted.

"I don't want or need a shortcut. I can handle this." Cloud entered the store and delivered the box, coming out a few minutes later with some new directions.

"Trust me you need the shortcut." Reno was waiting for Cloud outside the store. "Besides, it's not cheating. You can take whatever road you want in the race, so why not take the shortcut?"

"Shut up Reno," Cloud refused to listen and headed back to Fenrir. "I can win this race by myself. I don't need your help. Don't think that just because I spared your life it means I've forgotten about what you did."

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Reno attempted to explain his good intentions once more. "You have to hear me out; I was at the Gold Saucer, betting at the chocobo races when I heard-"

"About the shortcut?" Cloud interrupted, "I don't care." The delivery boy raced off full speed on his motorcycle, leaving the Turk behind.

The distant echo of Reno's voice reached Cloud with a "don't say I didn't warn you!"

It was not until it was too late that Cloud found a big traffic jam in the main road, the cars were so close to each other that even though Fenrir was smaller than a car, Cloud couldn't slip past them. Was that what Reno tried warn him about?

"Cloud!" No... No, no, no! "Cloudy!" That voice, Cloud was afraid to look at the car in the lane beside him, but his head unwillingly turned towards the voice. "Are you going to Dio's special wrestling event too? I didn't expect this many people to go, just look at the traffic. I hope we get there on time. I'm sure glad I found you, this traffic jam would be so boring without someone to talk to. You should give me your cellphone number and your email so we can talk some time. How have you been Cloudy?"

Mukki, it was Mukki in the car beside him and calling him Cloudy no less, while having the nerve to ask for his number and email. Cloud twitched and made a mental note to kill Reno for not properly warning him about Dio's event, which was what Cloud guessed Reno had heard about at the Gold Saucer.

If only Cloud knew Dio would have another wrestling event outside of the Gold Saucer, he would have guessed that Mukki and his friends would be there and avoided all the roads heading towards the designated location. It was true that Reno did try to warn him and Cloud didn't listen, but after all those 'it's not your fault' hypnotism and therapy sessions he took to get over his previous depression, Cloud was unable to blame himself for anything, even if it was his fault. At least Cloud wasn't the 'Lord of the Emoness' anymore, but that only meant he had more energy to try to kill Reno later.

As for the race, the mailman avoided the traffic jams, but thinking he had won, because surely the spiky haired blond was stuck in traffic, he stopped at a donut shop and got distracted. Meanwhile, the boy in the bike, though he was the slowest of the three due to his mode of transportation, was the one to win the race.

End of Delivery 11

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 11 was requested by Rei Mumei. Special thanks to Nentikobe for pointing out the correct way to spell Mukki. The part about 'Lord of the Emoness' was inspired by a review from firefox999.


	12. Chapter 12

I just realized that Halloween will be long gone by the time I finish posting all my Halloween specials. More to come!

Deliveries

Delivery 12: Ghostly Candy

Cloud entered the Seventh Heaven carrying various bags of assorted candy. "Tifa, I'm home!"

Tifa had to admit, she loved it when Cloud arrived and called out like that. It really did feel like having a home, a home with Cloud, Marlene and Denzel. Smiling from ear to ear, Tifa took the candy bags. "Welcome home, Cloud." She walked over to the counter and opened the bags, pouring their sweet contents into pumpkin shaped bowls. "The children will probably start coming by soon, you should put on your costume." Tifa adjusted the summoner horn on her forehead and observed Cloud's troubled expression, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm going to change now." Cloud went upstairs. He had been delivering candy all day, as everyone tried to supply their homes with treats after leaving the Halloween shopping for the last moment. It was Cloud who had to brave the stores and hunt down the last few bags of candy. He blamed it on Shinra, they were hosting a Halloween party and candy give away, so they took most of the sweets found in the city.

At least Cloud could find enough candy in the neighboring towns to ration it between his deliveries and bring some back for Tifa to give away tonight. But that was not Cloud's current worry, the candy had been taken care of and now he had to face the costume. Cloud was a summon to match Tifa's summoner outfit, but the dragon-like costume was so complex he wasn't sure he could put it on.

While Cloud was battling it out with his costume and Tifa was finishing setting things downstairs, Reno arrived. "Indiana Jones?"

"Right," Reno nodded, "the younger and cooler version of course. But Tseng took away my whip and Rufus told him not to give it back."

"Let me guess, you broke something," Tifa correctly concluded.

"Only a few things..." It had been actually a lot of things that were broken or knocked over by Reno and his lack of practice using a whip. "Then Rufus told me to come here and help out as a gift from Shinra."

Tifa muttered something about being everyone's babysitter, then handed Reno some decorations. "If your mission is to help, then you might as well put these up, it's been a busy day and we need to finish decorating as soon as possible."

As if on cue, Cloud stumbled down the stairs, tripping on his dragon tail and falling on his face on the very last step. This caused Reno to laugh loudly, while Tifa attempted to help her summon to his feet.

A few minutes later, Marlene and Denzel came downstairs dressed as a chocobo and moogle and soon the neighborhood children began to arrive calling "trick or treat!"

A while later, a couple arrived with three children dressed as a kitty, a bunny and a fox. Cloud's eyes glowed and he felt something familiar about the group, but didn't say anything. "Having fun?" The man asked; he was dressed as a knight. His blue eyes were glowing and his face was partially covered by the silver helmet that matched his armor.

"Yeah," Cloud didn't know why, but he felt as if he had met them before.

"Can you guess what we are?" The woman asked; she was dressed as an angel with white robes, long golden hair and a glowing halo.

"An angel and a knight," Cloud guessed the obvious, their costumes were so easy to interpret.

But the couple laughed. "Ghosts, we're all ghosts," the knight replied.

Then a sudden realization came to Cloud. Though the knight's face was covered, he recognized those glowing blue mako eyes, and the angel with her golden wig was also someone that he had met before. They said they were ghosts... could it be?

End of Delivery 12

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. I'm also writing two other Final Fantasy VII humor stories "Missions" and "Reborn", if you like "Deliveries", you'll like those too. Delivery 12 was inspired by JesusRox7111 who wanted to see the ghosts of Aeris and Zack. 


	13. Chapter 13

Here's another Halloween special!

Deliveries

Delivery 13: Pumpkins and Pokemon

It wasn't the delivery itself that was unusual, it was the amount. Delivering pumpkins for Halloween was not strange in the least, but why did they need this many at Shinra? Well maybe the amount wasn't so unusual given that the headquarters were so big. But the question still remained, why did they call Cloud to deliver the pumpkins?

After several trips, Cloud finally finished the deliveries and collected his pay. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for once, but Cloud knew not to lower his guard. "These pumpkins are broken," Rufus watched as Rude took out one of the pumpkins, it was only a few, while the large majority was intact.

"It's not my fault," Cloud tried to explain that the pumpkins must have already been broken when he got them. "I was careful with them and-"

"No excuses, Strife! Find more pumpkins or you'll never work in this city or planet ever again!" Rufus was rather stressed, possibly because he had to force himself to be all friendly and nice tonight, even if he didn't feel like mingling with the lower class visitors from the slums. But he really needed the positive propaganda.

Cloud grumbled and left the Shinra headquarters, hopped on Fenrir and went to have a word with the pumpkin merchant at Kalm. He didn't want to be left without a job after all.

The delivery boy was in too much of a bad mood to realize who the one wearing bright orange coat and looking at the pumpkins was. Much to his dismay, Cloud seemed to be running into Mukki at every turn. "Cloudy! You came to buy pumpkins too?"

Cloud could only nod while he silently cursed his bad luck.

"These are the last two boxes. Here, you can have one, it's a gift," Mukki cheered.

Cloud twitched and shuddered, forced a "thanks" and rushed back to Fenrir.

As Cloud dashed away, he didn't quite catch the chocobo farmer complaining about there not being enough pumpkins to go around, and not being able to give the chocobos a pumpkin treat. Nor did he notice the farmer's glare directed towards the one who left with the last box of pumpkins, Cloud Strife, though it had been Mukki who purchased it, Cloud was blamed for the pumpkins running out.

If he had noticed all of that, then maybe Cloud wouldn't have been so surprised when a group of chocobos started chasing him, trying to steal the pumpkins. They chased him all the way to Midgar, where the unlucky delivery boy finally lost them after several turns and tunnels in the highway.

"The pumpkins," Cloud delivered the box to Rufus, who was now wearing clothes that Cloud knew he saw somewhere before, possibly on TV. The cap looked especially familiar, though it was a miracle in itself that Rufus would hide the hair he was so proud of.

"Good, now you can help with another thing," Rufus decided.

But Cloud shook his head; he needed to take a break before he had a breakdown. "I think that's enough work for today-"

"No! You're the only one who can do this, Reno explain the new job!" Rufus left the explanations to Reno, which was usually a bad idea. But the entire thing had been Reno's idea in the first place and for once, Rufus didn't think it was possible for him to mess up the plan.

Cloud could only stare as Reno appeared in front of him dressed in yellow, with bunny-like ears, red cheeks and a zigzag tail. Then he realized where he had seen Rufus' outfit before, he was that trainer from Pokemon. Marlene and Denzel watched that show all the time. After the initial shock wore off, Cloud laughed like he never laughed before.

Reno wasn't really bothered by it because he honestly didn't mind the silly costume. "Hey pay attention, I'm telling you about your new job! Anyway, like I was saying, we're getting all the Shinra employees together for the Halloween party and everyone's invited. We're also getting everyone who ever worked for Shinra to come, it was my idea. I only told Rufus about it to annoy that vampire because... well he's kind of fun to annoy. So you have to talk to him and get him to come and make him be a little more original and dress up as something other than a vampire."

"Vampire?" Cloud asked between laughs.

"Yes, Vincent, the vampire!" Reno explained.

"I don't think he'll be too happy about being called a vampire," Cloud laughed some more, "but I'll tell him to come." Because if Reno was Pikachu and Rufus was Ash, then there was a chance that the other Turks were dressed up as Pokemon too, and that was too fun to miss. In fact, Cloud would tell all his friends about it.

"Just make sure he doesn't come as a vampire, because he looks like a vampire all the time and that's boring. That's his costume over there, take it to him." Reno pointed at a box, which Cloud took along when he went to talk to Vincent, who was going to visit the Seventh Heaven along with everyone else that day.

When Cloud arrived at the Seventh Heaven, everyone was already gathered there. Cloud told them about the Poke-Turks and they all wanted to see them. Now it was all a matter of getting Vincent to agree to wear whatever costume was in the box so they could help Cloud finish his job and be welcomed to the Shinra party.

Alas their hopes were brought down when Vincent firmly declared, "I am not going to dress up as a purple butterfly!" But they would not give up.

"Butterfree," Marlene corrected as she shared a knowing look with Denzel. Older people couldn't even say the names of Pokemon right.

Obviously, the group wouldn't take no for an answer, especially since they might get kicked out of the Shinra party before they got to bother the Turks about their silly costumes because they were Cloud's friends, and Cloud was the one who couldn't finish his latest odd delivery, to deliver Vincent in a Butterfree costume.

xoxox xox xoxox

Children ran around stuffing their faces with candy and comparing their costumes with other kids. Rufus' image improved, as did the image of the Turks. Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander, Pidgeotto and the ex-Turk, Butterfree.

Rude was by far the most quiet and serious pokemon anyone ever saw, he had only said one word during the entire night after receiving many pokes from random kids, "charmander." Which would have been translated, if anyone understood pokemon language, into "I'm pissed off," but no one quite caught it.

Elena's element was ice, so she ended up as the cute little turtle pokemon, who stayed close to the leader bird during the entire time, occasionally feeding him because, while it was possible to be able to pick up items with her blue gloves, Tseng couldn't do anything with his wings.

Reno was actually enjoying the party; none of Cloud's friends could annoy him because he liked being a Pikachu. Leave it to Reno to have fun with all the silliness. He also took some time to annoy Vincent and make fun of the costume he was forced to wear by group pressure and children's sad looks. Feeling himself about to lose his temper, the "vampire Butterfree" as Reno called him, made a silent vow to stop procrastinating in what needed to be done, rid the world of a certain annoying Pikachu.

End of Delivery 13

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 13 was requested by Rei Mumei. 


	14. Chapter 14

Deliveries

Delivery 14: Jealousy

The life of a delivery boy was not an easy one and Cloud sometimes ended up making deliveries he would rather not make. But alas with the little gil he made, he didn't have much of a choice but to take whatever jobs he could get. "Can you really make a business out of that?" Some would say and Cloud was determined to prove he could.

Rude's quiet precense, appearing more often than usual at the Seventh Heaven lately, wasn't making Cloud feel any better. Much to Cloud's dismay, Rude invited Tifa to the Gold Saucer and she agreed to go. Cloud didn't know if it was good or bad that he had to deliver a package there.

It was good in the sense that Cloud could keep an eye on them and remind Rude that Tifa was his friend and only his friend, making sure the Turk didn't forget. But it was also bad because Cloud didn't know what to expect when he found Tifa and Rude.

Sighing deeply, Cloud almost wished he tried to join the Turks instead of Soldier back when he left Nibelheim. But he was an impressionable boy with dreams of being a hero who protected his secret crush, Tifa. In the end it was a Turk who asked her out, as if insult really had to be added upon injury.

Cloud made a mental note to talk to Marlene and Denzel, and make sure to stress the importance of having a Plan B when choosing a career, in case the first option doesn't work out. Then they wouldn't have to suffer though not knowing what to do and thus making a business out of the first idea that pops into their heads.

As for the delivery, Cloud decided to go, he would take the box, dash to Dio, pray not to run into Mukki, and then move on to more important things, such as meddling in Rude's friendly outing with Tifa and stop it from evolving into a more than friends date.

The heavens smiled upon the tortured delivery boy, or so he thought, because Cloud miraculously managed to find Dio and deliver the box without any inconveniences. Much to his relief, Mukki wasn't at the Gold Saucer that day, or at least he wasn't anywhere to be seen, though Cloud would keep his guard up just in case.

The spiky haired blond then proceeded with his plan, he spotted Rude and Tifa talking, and she was smiling, a fact that made Cloud burn with jealousy. He snuck over to them, avoiding their gaze and caught a piece of their conversation in Tifa's voice; it was something about "pocky."

There went Rude, to buy pocky, while Tifa sat contently on a bench and waited for her treat. Obviously Cloud joined the pocky race and was no longer interested in hiding; instead he openly bought a box of the yummy treat. Then of course, Rude bought another box of pocky, and Cloud another and Rude another, and they continued to compete until there was no more pocky left to buy.

The end of the shopping spree was not the end of the battle. The two men were tied, but there could only be one winner. Cloud made the first move, stealing one of Rude's pocky boxes, opening it and emptying its contents in his mouth. This escalated to Rude doing the same thing, which led to both men trying to choke each other by stuffing pocky in each other's mouths, and neither noticed the mischievous redhead taking a picture of them.

Back at the bench, Tifa sat wondering what was taking Rude so long when Reno arrived. "Hey Tifa, I have a picture I know you want to see. But you have to give me free drinks at the Seventh Heaven later!"

"Not interested," Tifa disregarded this as more of Reno's unimportant randomness.

"Yes you are! I know you want to see this, it's about an epic battle!" Reno had lost quite a lot of gil betting on the chocobo races and was in need of drinking away his sense of defeat; but because of that defeat, he lacked the gil to do so. Thus the mischievous redhead, who couldn't stay out of trouble, had to resort to desperate measure.

Tifa curiously thought of the picture, worries starting to form in the back of her mind. "Is anyone I know in that picture?" When Reno nodded, Tifa knew she had to see that photo and hastily offered, "five free drinks."

"Twenty."

"Ten."

"Seventeen."

"Fifteen."

"Deal!"

The picture was interesting to say the least. Though it was an epic battle of rivalry, to anyone who saw the picture without learning its story, it looked like two grown men playing with pocky. Needless to say, Tifa was not pleased to have been apparently forgotten.

End of Delivery 14

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 14 was requested by demonlifehealer. 


	15. Chapter 15

Deliveries

Delivery 15: Poker

Between making deliveries, Cloud Strife returned to the Seventh Heaven and watched the different stages of the Turks' boredom. At first they simply lacked something to do, after being used to staying busy all the time, so they went to the Seventh Heaven and just sat there. Then they were beginning to be bothered by the fact that they had nothing to do.

Cloud came and went, and watched as the boredom progressed. They tried to make small talk, they stared at the walls, they ate, they drank and finally, they just hung around idly. The boredom could be felt in the air, leaving the Seventh Heaven with a heavy atmosphere.

But this was none of Cloud's business, unlike the Turks, he had plenty of work to do, to earn a fraction of the gil they earned, which was rather frustrating, but the delivery boy would bear with it. One after another, the packages Cloud had to deliver became less and less, and one after another the minutes of the afternoon ticked away slowly.

The next time Cloud returned from a delivery and picked up another group of packages, because he could only carry so many at once on Fenrir, Tseng and Elena had left. "They went out together," Tifa had casually mentioned and Cloud eyed Rude suspiciously, as if warning the Turk not to try to ask Tifa out while he was gone delivering more packages.

Once again, Strife Delivery Service was on the case. Cloud rushed around the streets of Midgar delivering more packages. At least his business was doing better than usual, but of course there had to be catch, Cloud had plenty of work when the Turks did not, thus leaving Tifa alone with them. His only consolation was that Reno was also there to occasionally make a silly joke and shatter the possibility of a developing romantic atmosphere between Rude and Tifa.

"Just a few more packages to go," Cloud told himself. But as he entered the Seventh Heaven, the packages that needed to be delivered were the last thing on his mind. "Reno, what are you doing?"

"Drinking a strawberry smoothie," Reno replied.

"I can see that but..." Cloud trailed off from the sheer random weirdness of the situation in front of him.

"Yes, it's spiked, just in case you're wondering," Reno answered the unasked question.

"Where's your shirt?" Cloud finally asked.

Reno pointed at the end of the counter, "there, it's not for keeps, I can have it back at five. Marlene and Denzel are with Elmyra so we played poker."

"Strip poker..." Cloud had a bad feeling about this. But fortunately Tifa's clothes were not among the pile. "So you lost?"

"Not really," Reno replied. After all he still had his pants and goggles, though he lacked his jacket, shirt and shoes. Reno and Rude never found out that Tifa could clearly see their cards reflected on their sunglasses and goggles respectively, and she never mentioned it. All is fair and love, war and card games.

Cloud's eyes went wide, along with Reno's clothes there were other clothes on the pile, an entire other Turk suit. "Rude..."

"He's helping Tifa clean the kitchen," no sooner had the words left Reno's mouth, Cloud had already jumped over the counter and ran into the kitchen.

End of Delivery 15

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. 


	16. Chapter 16

Deliveries

Delivery 16: Scarred for Life

Cloud only had to deliver one more package, just one and he would be done with his work for the day. Barret had come over and was staying for a few days. During that time Cloud had set aside a moment to try to have a man to man talk with Barret. Barret knew Tifa well enough from the days of Avalanche and though he was now a widow, Barret had once been married.

Putting all those facts together, Cloud thought that he could request some advice about making his relationship with Tifa progress, and first of all start. Thus previous night, Cloud told Barret about his problem and received some advice. To summarize, Barret told him to "be more direct and say what you need to say!"

Cloud just couldn't get himself to say anything straight out in the past. It wasn't that he didn't try, because he certainly did. Cloud tried to express his feelings time and again, but saying how he felt wasn't his forte. He still tried though, even if he end up tongue tied and embarrassed as if he was still the child he was back in Nibelheim.

Regardless of all those troubles, Cloud Strife was feeling determined. After he finished today's work, he would ask Tifa out on a date. He had already asked Barret to stay with Marlene and Denzel, to which Barret happily agreed the previous day. Then Tifa would be free of her usual babysitting duties and able to go out with Cloud. The delivery boy would finally push the words out and ask Tifa on a date, he would, he was certain he could do it this time. As Barrett pointed out, he just had to say it, there was nothing overly complicated about it.

However, Cloud never expected his last delivery of the day to take such a strange turn. It was simple enough, the location was the very Seventh Heaven where he lived and he knew what the package contained. When Barret made the order he wasn't sure about the zip code, and since Cloud was a delivery boy, it was only logical to ask him about it, even if it was only a small technicality since Cloud would end up taking the package from Junon to the Seventh Heaven anyway.

As expected, Cloud knew the answer to Barret's zip code question and it was then that the blond found out that Barret's package was supposed to contain the Special Edition Super Deluxe Gun Service Kit. It was a practical assortment of different tools and utensils used to clean and maintain guns, or gun arms in Barret's case.

Then it happened, the event that would leave poor Cloud scarred for life, the image that would forever be burnt into his mind, never to leave the vast abyss of his darkest nightmares. When Cloud went upstairs to deliver Barret's package, he found Barret admitting himself in the mirror wearing a pink tutu, while growling curses under his breath.

Cloud's jaw dropped as he stood there wide eyed and frozen at the door. He wanted to scream in both fear and agony, but his throat refused to produce any sounds. He wanted to run away and not stop until he was on the other side of the planet, but his legs refused to move.

Cloud's grip starting to become weak, until the package slipped out of his hands and the audible noise of the impact upon the floor caused by the box, containing the Special Edition Super Deluxe Gun Service Kit, alerted Barret to his presence. "Cloud!"

He ran; Cloud Strife finally managed to wake up from his shocked daze and he ran for dear life, dashing down the stairs and tripping over his own feet in his desperate haste.

"Cloud, are you okay?" Tifa had been coincidentally mopping the area at the base of the stairs and witnessed the spectacle of Cloud tumbling down. She immediately tossed the mop aside, and away from Cloud's mouth. It wasn't done on purpose, Cloud came so fast that Tifa simple didn't have time to react and move the mop out of his path, much less attempt to catch him. But she did help him to his feet.

Cloud made a pained face, not only because of the fall, but because of the taste the mop had left in his mouth. Although none of that was as bad as the terrible trauma he had suffered seeing none other than Barret wearing a pink tutu. "Ba-ba-ba..." his voice had still not fully recovered.

"Come here, sit down," Tifa helped Cloud towards one of the tables in the restaurant area, in front of which they sat. "Did it hurt that much?" The fall certainly looked painful, but Cloud was strong. Even so, Tifa knew very well that even the strongest person could feel pain. She tried her best to console Cloud, gently patting his back tracing circles and allowing him to rest his head on her chest.

Cloud brushed madly, but didn't say a word. Unfortunately he was far too traumatized by what he had recently witnessed to be able to fully enjoy being so close to his crush.

"Is he okay?" Cloud jumped upon hearing Barret's voice and immediately became alert.

"Cloud fell down the stairs, it must have really hurt." Tifa spoke in a sweet and loving tone, as if her concern for Cloud had made her momentarily forget anything else she might have been thinking of.

"You gotta watch where you're goin'!" Barret commented; he wasn't in the mood to deal with anything.

Cloud could only blink in surprise at Tifa's lack of mention of Barret's clothes, which still included a pink tutu. Further confusing the already confused delivery boy, Reno entered the Seventh Heaven along with Marlene and Denzel, who giggled quietly and ate their ice-cream.

"Here's your ice-cream!" Reno cheerfully handed Tifa her cone of vanilla, which had partially melted on the way there.

None the less Tifa said, "thank you," perhaps more so because Reno had actually managed to make it to the ice-cream shop down the street and back without getting into trouble while Marlene and Denzel were with him.

"No problem," Reno grinned at Barret, who glared at the redhead using every last ounce of self control he had left to stop himself from killing the Turk there and then. "Hey Cloud, you look pale!" Barret growled as if telling Reno that he better leave soon. Reno grinned some more, finally said, "I'll be going back to work now," and left the Seventh Heaven.

Barret huffed and went back upstairs, while Tifa ate her ice-cream. "If I had known you would be back by now I would have told Reno to bring another ice-cream. Do you want to share this?"

Cloud only blinked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Um..." No one had said anything about Barret's pink tutu so he felt it was best not to say anything about it either. Maybe he was hallucinating, or maybe there was something wrong with his eyes. "No, that's okay; I have to go out again anyway. I'm going to try to get an appointment with an eye doctor."

"Oh, yes, I understand. It's good to have an eye exam every now and then." Especially for mako eyes, Tifa only thought that last part, deciding it was best not to say it aloud so as to avoid adding to Cloud's worries, since he already looked worried enough as it was.

Cloud nodded and left. He had a perfectly good opportunity to ask Tifa to go out with him and he wasted it. In fact, he didn't even enjoy his consolation time close to Tifa as much as he could have. It was all because no one else said anything about what was plainly obvious to him; Barret was wearing a pink tutu.

Cloud's fragile mind decided that he was wrong. There was nothing to fear, Barret had not randomly started wearing pink tutus, Cloud's eyes were merely tired. Maybe he needed glasses or contact lenses and the pink blur that was the tutu around Barret would disappear.

Because Cloud didn't ask about Barret's pink tutu, no one ever told him, they simply assumed that he knew. Tifa had assumed that Barret himself had told Cloud how he got into that predicament while they were upstairs. As for Barret, he would rather not bring up the subject at all, so if no one asked, he had no reason to explain.

In truth, Reno had challenged Barret to a card castle building competition. The loser would wear a pink tutu and buy ice-cream for all the others present, which at the time included Tifa, Marlene and Denzel. Barret's right arm was robotic and not too steady due to needing maintenance, plus Reno had been getting plenty of practice building card castles on his desk while procrastinating to do Shinra paper work. As a result, Barret never stood a chance.

Thanks to a merciful persuasive speech from Tifa, Reno agreed to cut Barret some slack and allow him to serve his punishment while hiding in the Seventh Heaven, instead of having him go to the ice-cream shop in a pink tutu. However, Barret still had to buy the ice-cream which Reno went to get along with Marlene and Denzel.

End of Delivery 16

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 16 was requested by Rei Mumei. 


	17. Chapter 17

Deliveries

Delivery 17: Thanksgiving

If he never saw another turkey in his life it would be too soon, because quite frankly, Cloud Strife was sick and tired of seeing turkeys. He had to rush down the busy streets full of people who were heading off to visit or impose on their family, making sure to get to his destination before the frozen bird defrosted, or cooled off too much in case he was transporting one that had already been cooked. A delivery boy had no holidays.

Tired beyond as much as he ever remembered being tired, though it was only mid-afternoon, Cloud returned to the Seventh Heaven. His exhaustion wasn't due to the difficulty of the task, but to the tediousness of it. Deliver this turkey here, pick up that turkey there, this isn't my turkey, mine was bigger, oh no they burned my turkey so I'll blame it on the innocent delivery boy. Cloud was fed up with turkey, even if he hasn't actually had a single bite of turkey all day.

"Is the turkey ready?" Needless to say, Cloud wasn't in the mood to deal with Turks, especially not Reno.

"You have to give it some time," Tifa replied.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked, with a frown upon his face.

"I'm waiting for the turkey. Tifa is cooking Rufus' turkey and I have to take it to Healin Lodge before dinner." Reno played with his glass of an unknown drink, before finishing it. "Tifa..."

"Yes, I know, more eggnog," Tifa filled up Reno's glass again, while Cloud looked a bit surprised.

"Eggnog? Already?" The blond blinked, he thought there wouldn't be any eggnog until Christmas.

"You know how it is," Tifa explained. "As soon as Thanksgiving ends, it's Christmas."

That's how it went; there was Halloween, then Thanksgiving and finally Christmas. Then came the new year and another year was gone, Valentine's Day rolled around and like every year, Cloud would try to tell Tifa how he feels during the occasion and fail miserably, telling himself that next year he would get it right. Then when Easter, came he would run around delivering live chocobo chicks and bunnies; but then again, he always worked during all the holidays.

Cloud delivered candy during Halloween, turkeys during Thanksgiving, presents during Christmas, fireworks for New Year's Eve, chocolates and flowers during Valentine's Day. Then there came the random deliveries in between, birthday gifts and other minor holidays. The years would continue to go by and Cloud would never fulfill the New Year Resolution he made every year, to tell Tifa how he felt.

While Cloud spaced out and worried, he didn't notice Tifa asking him something, thus she repeated the question after calling him a little louder, "Cloud!"

He snapped back into reality, to meet with Tifa's concerned eyes. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Rufus sent Thanksgiving themed fortune cookies; they're produced by Shinra's new snack factory." Those cookies were just a free box for the sake of promotion, and it was probably suggested by the marketing team instead of Rufus himself. Kids love fortune cookies and after Marlene and Denzel tried them, they would most likely want more. But even so, Tifa appreciated the cookies none the less. "Do you want some?"

Cloud nodded and took a fortune cookie, remembering to remove the paper before swallowing it. It was a detail he usually forgot. Then the ding of the oven was heard and Tifa went off to tend to the turkey. She brought the large barbecued bird in a tray and wrapped it up with aluminum paper and plastic before handing it to Reno. Cloud was too focused on his fortune to listen to the words that were spoken at that point. "Be thankful for the opportunities life brings," he read the fortune to himself.

When Reno left with the turkey, the meaning of Cloud's fortune sank in. After rushing though his deliveries and breaking a few speed records on Fenrir, Cloud finished work unusually early. There were no customers in the Seventh Heaven at the moment, since everyone was in their own homes celebrating the holidays. Marlene and Denzel where playing videogames upstairs and so Cloud and Tifa were left alone.

No more waiting, Cloud would tell Tifa all about how he felt there and then. "Tifa-"

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Yuffie's loud voice pierced the air as a large group including Cid, Shera, Nanaki, Barret, Reeve and even Vincent arrived. Marlene and Denzel heard and rushed down the stairs to welcome the group along with Tifa. Once again for Cloud, another chance was gone...

End of Delivery 17

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 17 was requested by les yeux sans visage. 


	18. Chapter 18

Deliveries

Delivery 18: Paper Boy

Of all the delivery jobs, after delivering pizza and letters, delivering newspapers was one of the most well known, though not the safest. Stories were told about how paperboys were chased by dogs like miniature mailmen. Also, in some stories, the paperboys didn't play the victim but the villain. Those villainous paperboys broke windows and hit heads with their news filled projectiles before fleeing the scene never to be caught.

To summarize, the name of paperboys was stained as either strong evil doers or weak victims, but never valiant heroes. One man, who was possibly one of the oldest papermen ever, as he could definitely not be called a paperboy anymore, was determined to change that. His name was Cloud Strife.

"You name it; we deliver it," was the motto of Strife Delivery Service and people could easily say the word "newspaper." Thus Cloud was stuck with the job of delivering newspapers. He rode on Fenrir, which was quite different from the usual paperboy bikes, and caught the attention of the citizens more than the titular page of the newspapers he delivered.

"Newspaper!" Cloud called out, while trying his best to focus on diminishing the red tint that spread across his cheeks every time he voiced that word.

Tifa had told Cloud time and again that it was an honest job, and that Denzel and Marlene were still one or two years away from becoming interested in the position, so he wasn't stealing some poor child's possibility to earn some extra money. Thus in the end, Cloud accepted the job.

"Newspaper!" Cloud couldn't afford to get fired so if he was told to call out like that, no matter how silly he felt, he would force himself to do it.

"So it was true!" Reno jumped out from behind the Healin Lodge main entrance door, after Cloud failed to spot him looking out the window next to it before yelling his paperboy battle cry. Worse yet, Reno had a camera and was snapping away picture after picture.

"Stop!" Cloud defended himself in the first none deadly way he could think of, he threw a newspaper at Reno. But being Reno, he was used to having people lose their patience with his antics and start throwing things at him, so he skillfully avoided the newspaper. However, Cloud didn't stop there, he started throwing newspaper after newspaper, trying to knock Reno out, or at least knock the camera out of his hands.

Finally one of the newspapers hit Reno on the head and knocked off his precious goggles. The redhead gasped and let the camera, which he had borrowed without permission from Rufus, slide out of his hands. "My goggles! This means war!" Reno picked up the fallen projectiles and began the newspaper counter attack against Cloud, who continued to return fire.

"Cloud Strife!" Reeve had not received his morning newspaper, so he went to see what the hold up was about. Since Reeve was the one who pulled some strings and got the paperboy job for Cloud, he felt in part responsible for the safe and timely delivery of the newspapers.

Cloud froze mid-throw and Reno's newspaper hit him square in the nose. Cloud woke up from his daze not bothering to return fire anymore, and looked at Reeve, then at the newspapers scattered all over the ground, then finally at Reno to whom he pointed at accusingly. "It was his fault!"

While Reeve gave them both a talk about responsibility and respecting other people's newspapers, Reno blatantly ignored him and Cloud nodded automatically. None of them noticed Elena at the top of the Healin Lodge stairs with a video camera.

End of Delivery 18

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. 


	19. Chapter 19

Deliveries

Delivery 19: Glasses

"What do you mean you'll take a week to make my contacts?!" Cloud Strife was known to have become quiet for some time after the Meteor incident and during Sephiroth's later return. However, he had been recovering recently and becoming more talkative.

Still, it was rare to hear Cloud speak that loudly all of a sudden and it made Tifa look curiously in his direction. "Are you okay?" She asked with evident concern.

Cloud nodded, but his frown never left his face, as he did not like what he was hearing over the phone. Then, after a few "uh-huh" were emitted by the blond, there came another out burst from the upset delivery boy. "You can't find anyone to deliver them?" Cloud's tone was dead serious, which made Tifa pause in a classical bartender pose while cleaning a glass. "You can't find anyone to deliver them?!" This time Cloud's voice was louder and more upset than the last. "You're talking to Strife Delivery Service and you say you can't find anyone to deliver them?!" His delivery boy pride had been hurt.

Tifa hastily set the glass down on the counter and went into comforting mode, offering a caring smile and gently patting Cloud on the back. She deduced he must have been talking to the eye doctor, or the doctor's secretary, from that office that promised to deliver all finished glasses or contact lenses to the patient's home if they took more than an hour to make them after the eye exam. He had mentioned something about getting an eye exam before.

After Cloud came to terms with the caller, he ended the call and set his cellphone down on the counter, proceeding to glare at it. Cloud's eyes glowed brightly as he pouted childishly, too absorbed in his frustration to notice that Tifa had walked around the bar and was currently hugging him. If only the injury to Cloud's pride wasn't so fresh he could actually be enjoying the hug and returning it, instead of focusing on glaring at his cellphone as if it alone was to blame for all the injustice in the world.

A few seconds passed, and after having his spiky hair petted by a concerned Tifa, Cloud finally snapped out of his cellphone glaring trance and grinned sheepishly. "Are you feeling better now? Good!" Tifa let Cloud go and rounded the bar once again; standing on the other side and picking up the glass she had been previously cleaning. Cloud mentally kicked himself for looking happy, which gave Tifa the idea that she could stop consoling him.

"I need to go pick up my contacts tomorrow..." Cloud dully announced. He did have a pair of glasses which were made by mistake during his wasted hour waiting for his contact lenses. At least he got to keep them for free since they were not supposed to be good for anyone else anyway.

"Are you going to wear your glasses until then?" Tifa asked.

"No, I can see without them." Cloud didn't want to worry Tifa, so he didn't want to mention that he got the glasses to stop his supposed visual hallucinations, which were actually the result of a misunderstanding. It was an unusual way to stop hallucinations, but mako eyes were unusual, so Cloud stayed open to the possibility of corrective eye equipment being the solution.

"Aw c'mon, let me see them on you. Glasses can make people look more interesting!" Tifa was curious and when Tifa was curious, there was no stopping her. She would use her charm to get what she wanted, and if not, she would get it by force. Trust me; you don't want to mess with a curious Tifa.

"I don't want to..." Cloud asked for contact lenses, but if the glasses he got by mistake were sophisticated and cool, he wouldn't have minded wearing them for Tifa, and thus look sophisticated and cool for her. However, the frame that had been mistakenly selected was so terribly geeky, that Cloud was starting to think it wasn't a mistake at all and they just needed an excuse to get rid of that frame, even if it meant giving it away for free, so that they wouldn't have to admit that they threw away every last frame of that particular model.

"Please!" Tifa insisted in her sweetest voice.

Cloud gulped and tried to remain firm, but he found it quite hard. "They're geeky, I didn't pick this frame," he tried to get out of it but it didn't work.

Tifa continued smiling expectantly, "I don't mind. You can take them off after a few minutes. I just want to see what you look like with glasses."

Cloud sighted in defeat. It was true that some people looked good with glasses and others made glasses look good. However, no one could hide the ugliness of those particular glasses even if they had the face of an angel. Sadly, Cloud knew there was no escape, so he solemnly took his glasses out of his pocket and put them on.

A laugh was heard, and both Cloud and Tifa looked towards the door to find Reno taking a picture with his cellphone. A split second later, Cloud dashed after him, sword in hand, while Reno sprinted away running for his life.

In conclusion, Cloud unwittingly ended up chasing after Reno all over the neighborhood with his geeky glasses still on. By the time the angry delivery boy caught the mischievous Turk; Reno had already emailed the picture to the other Turks and made Cloud let him go with the threat of having Rude avenge his death by publishing the photo on the Shinra website.

Finally, to top it all up, it turned out that neither the glasses nor the contact lenses made a difference for Cloud's already perfect vision; they merely dimmed his mako eyes.

End of Delivery 19

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 19 was inspired by a review from SugarHoney91. 


	20. Chapter 20

Deliveries

Delivery 20: Party

Cloud had gone out to work only to find himself back at the Seventh Heaven pretty soon with cake ingredients. Except Cloud wasn't a cook, and nowhere close, so he didn't know what the ingredients would form when they were mixed together. Though those were not exactly the usual groceries he delivered to Tifa, Cloud didn't think too much of it and delivered the ingredients. But still, even if he wasn't certain, he couldn't help it but to picture a cake when he thought of those ingredients.

The delivery boy checked his work list and realized that there were many familiar names there. Next up he delivered some party hats to Yuffie and curiously asked, "why do you need party hats?"

"To sneak into parties I wasn't invited to!" Yuffie replied without hesitation. "Everyone knows that's where the materia is!" It made sense considering this was Yuffie.

After that delivery was done, Cloud headed off to take some streamers and confetti to Cid. "Shera! Bring some tea!" Cid took the package and practically pushed Cloud into a chair.

"I need to finish my other deliveries," Cloud tried to excuse himself. Something suspicious was going on and he wanted to finish work as soon as possible and investigate.

"Sit down and drink your )#%~ tea! Shera hurry with the tea!" Unable to argue with Cid, Cloud did as he was told.

Shera brought the tea soon after, "here you go. Would you like anything else with the tea? How about a muffin?"

"That's okay, I have to leave soon," Cloud replied as he hastily drank his tea.

But Shera placed a muffin in front of him on the table anyway. "Be a good buy and eat your muffin. We can't have you running out of energy while you're working and collapsing of exhaustion," Shera smiled.

Cloud opened his mouth to reply, but Cid spoke first. "Just eat the )#%~ muffin!"

Cloud nodded and gulped down the muffin along with the tea. Once that was done; the delivery boy asked before leaving, "what are the party supplies for?"

"What party supplies?" Cid pretended he had no idea what Cloud was talking about, but it was rather obvious this was about the recently delivered supplies.

"The streamers and confetti I just delivered," Cloud reminded.

"Those are not party supplies; they're mechanic supplies for Shera. Right, Shera?" Cid looked to his wife for support.

With a straight face, as if it was all completely true and perfectly logical, Shera nodded and supported Cid's story. "Of course, these materials are used to maintain engines. You need to have experience in advanced mechanics to understand."

"Oh... okay..." Even if Cloud didn't have the experience Shera claimed he needed, it was obvious it was all a lie.

Cloud's day continued like that, delivering all sorts of party supplies and decorations to all his friends including drinks, chips and snacks to Nanaki, Barret, Vincent and Reeve. Then finally when he was heading home, Cloud was held up by the strangest thing, a barrier of plushies in the middle of the road.

After picking up all the plushies and leaving them in Elena's care, Cloud continued home with one conclusion in mind. His friends were having a party without him and even went as far as hiring the Turks to delay him. He never suspected that the party was actually -for- him.

You know what they say; the best place to hide something is right under the nose of the person you're hiding it from.

End of Delivery 20

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 20 was requested by Rei Mumei. I'm also working on a spin-off based on this story Missions (my other fanfic), which is the Turks side of the story and details the plushie barrier incident. Both stories can also be read and understood separately. I'll post Mission 52 very soon. 


	21. Chapter 21

Deliveries

Delivery 21: Finished Early, With No Rest

Cloud Strife was in a pretty good mood, note the past tense. He had finished work sooner than expected and received several generous tips. But Cloud's good mood would not last as long as he thought it would, and he had Reno to blame for that.

If not for Reno, Cloud could have spent some time alone with Tifa and possibly get around to confessing his feelings once and for all. But that was not what occupied Cloud's mind. The delivery boy was as clueless as ever when it came to wasting opportunities for romance with the task of feeling sorry for himself; because he, apparently, never got any chances to tell Tifa how he felt.

Sure Cloud would have wasted his opportunity anyway, but Reno made it worse, Reno make it really hurt, physically and emotionally, and the pain would last in both forms. Even though Cloud mistakenly classified Reno's presence in the Seventh Heaven upon his arrival as harmless, the Turk would soon prove him wrong.

"Reno!" Cloud's angry voice snapped.

"Were you going to use this?" Reno tried to fake innocence as he pointed at the chair he had just pulled out when Cloud was about to sit down.

"You can't tell me it wasn't obvious," Cloud glared.

"Fine, I won't tell you since you already said it yourself." An expert of survival, Reno was feeling confident regardless of how often he was told that one day he would push Cloud, or someone else, too far and get into trouble. But of course, Reno was always in some kind of trouble anyway, so he didn't really mind as much as he should.

"Then why did you do that?" Cloud felt his anger rising, while Tifa stood speechless.

What in the world could Reno be planning this time? "It was an accident?"

Cloud glared and Tifa decided it was time to speak up. "Reno, that was a terrible thing to do. I want you to apologize to Cloud right now."

"Or what? You'll send me to sit in the corner?" How old did Tifa think Reno was, three?

"I won't do business with you anymore and that means no more food and drinks," Tifa firmly replied.

Reno showed his tongue to both Cloud and Tifa, before finally pushing out the words, "sorry Strife," with insincere ease.

Cloud looked at Tifa with pleading eyes, as if asking if he could kill Reno, but Tifa shook her head; she preferred her customers alive. Cloud sighed and attempted to sit down again, this time actually holding on to his seat, but once again Reno prevailed. Cloud felt a jolt of electricity and a yelp escaped him. "Reno!"

"I didn't do anything!" It was obvious that the Turk's electrorod was to blame.

Cloud finally had enough, while he rubbed his sore behind with one hand; he pointed his sword at Reno with the other. Then the chase began. Ultimately, Reno got away and Cloud wasn't able to sit down for a while. For once, the delivery boy wished he had not finished his deliveries so early, and thus avoided exposing himself to Reno's random craziness.

At the time, Cloud didn't know that Yuffie had actually hired Reno to make sure that Cloud didn't 'sit out' another opportunity to tell Tifa how he felt. But Reno only understood the part about not sitting down.

End of Delivery 21

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. This is a companion story to Mission 53 (to be posted soon) but can also be read as a separate story. 


	22. Chapter 22

Deliveries

Delivery 22: Electrorod

It all started with a misunderstanding and it was blown out of proportions. One could blame Cid, or Cloud, or Reno or Yuffie, or any combination of those four.

"Cid can I talk to you?" That was the first step Cloud took deeper into his doom as he delivered some airship parts to Cid in Rocket Town.

"Chatter away, I'll be working on this and listening at the same time," it looked as if Cid was in fact so focused on his work that he wouldn't listen to Cloud's story at all.

But Cloud was desperate for someone to rant to, so he did as Cid said and chattered away. "It's Reno, he's so annoying!"

Cid laughed, proving that he could hear Cloud and was paying attention to his words even if he didn't look it. "Everyone thinks he's annoying, except maybe Tifa because he spends so much in her business, but I think even she loses her patience every now and then too."

"You're right about that," Cloud nodded. "I don't know how Rude puts up with Reno all the time."

"I'll have to admit Rude is as tough as they come, being able to put up with Reno." Cid picked up another part of the relatively small airship component he was working on and started to attach it to the rest of the component's structure.

"That's just it, Tifa doesn't want to lose her customers because if Reno stops coming then he'll go out of his way to stop Rude from coming over." Which would benefit Cloud in terms of having less competition for Tifa's attention, but Tifa would be upset to lose a customer. "It was also Reno who talked Tseng and Elena into coming to the Seventh Heaven regularly. Reno brings customers and spends a lot so Tifa puts up with him," and at this point Cloud pouted.

"It must be hard dealing with him," Cid agreed, feeling truly sorry for Cloud.

"You have no idea. The trip over here was hell because I still can't sit down without pain," it sounded odd, but Cloud was too upset to notice.

Yuffie had requested a Turk mission and Reno had been the one to go on that mission. The ninja worded her request in an interesting way and Reno wasn't really paying attention so he took it literally.

Yuffie wanted to make sure Cloud didn't 'sit out' another chance to confess his love to Tifa, but Reno only understood something about Cloud not sitting down. An electric shock to Cloud's behind had ensured that the blond didn't want to sit down again for a while and it also put Reno on the top of Cloud's revenge list.

However, Cloud soon found that taking revenge on Reno would not be that simple. Reno had, not only an army of fan girls to protect him, but thanks to his business at the Seventh Heaven he also had Tifa on his side and somehow even Marlene and Denzel thought he was cool, which made Cloud feel guilty for not spending more time with the kids.

After Cloud had vented out what happened to Cid, it left the pilot very confused. Thus Cid decided that maybe he shouldn't have been listening after all.

End of Delivery 22

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 22 is linked to Mission 53 but they can also be read as separate stories. Delivery 22 is like a little sequel.

Isn't it annoying when people tell you to listen and you say you are but they don't believe you? 


	23. Chapter 23

As requested, here's a sequel to Delivery 18.

Deliveries

Delivery 23: Publicity

"Mr. Shinra, I'm here to deliver your coffee," a voice was heard from the other side of Rufus' office door.

"Come in, don't interrupt, I'm in the middle of something important, just put the coffee on the desk," Rufus replied while grinning widely at some newly received financial reports. Who would have known something like -that- would turn out to be such a gold mine?

"I don't have a keycard Mr. Shinra, I'm only a lowly new assistant boy who makes coffee for the high executives and occasionally helps carry their briefcases," the same voice replied.

"Incompetent fool! At least you know your place, so I'll be merciful and forgive you." Rufus opened the door electronically from his desk. Then in a split second, the president found himself pinned against the glass window behind his desk, with an oversized sword on his throat. "What's the meaning of this, Strife? Who hired you to be the new coffee boy?"

"Nobody hired me and I don't have any coffee for you. I want you to take that video off the Shinra network!" Cloud demanded.

"Oh you mean the video involving you and the newspaper battle? Though luck Strife, that video was filmed in Shinra property, with Shinra equipment and that means Shinra owns it! Leave before I call the Turks!" Rufus yelled.

"Can't fight without the Turks?" Cloud maintained his threatening position.

"That's not what I'm saying! It's just that it's their job to fight." It was obviously an excuse; Rufus knew he couldn't possibly survive a fight with Cloud by himself, but the Turks had their tricks.

"Let him go," a woman entered the office and her voice made Cloud freeze on the spot. Thanks to Cloud's shocked and unmoving state, Rufus was able to push the gigantic sword away and slip out of danger.

Cloud turned around in surprise, he knew that voice. Although Rufus was expecting the Turks to come to his rescue, the woman that had entered the office was not Elena, nor any other female Turk; in fact, she was someone who was supposed to be on Cloud's side. "Tifa, what are you doing here?"

As much as Cloud liked to see Tifa smiling, he did not like that particular kind smile on her face. "I watched the newspaper video, it was great! This is a wonderful opportunity for your business and you shouldn't pass it up. Shinra and the Turks are still troublesome sometimes, but I think we can all agree that they have changed. You should be grateful for all the publicity you got thanks to that hilarious video. Do you have any idea how many delivery requests have come since it went public?"

Cloud felt himself twitch. Tifa not only laughed at the video, all in good humor but it still embarrassed him, she also approved of said video being used as part of a publicity stunt from which both Shinra Inc. and Strife Delivery Service would benefit.

"You heard her Strife, you should be thanking me!" Rufus grinned victoriously, while Cloud had no choice but to accept the situation. One thing still bothered Rufus though, "why didn't the Turks come?" He thought aloud.

"That's because I requested a mission to have the Turks answer the phone and tend to the restaurant and bar while I went to look for Cloud." Rufus didn't think much else of it after Tifa's explanation, but he wouldn't have been pleased to know that the Turks knew Cloud had gone out to get revenge on Rufus, and by accepting Tifa's request they would not be there to save their spoiled boss.

End of Delivery 23

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 23 was inspired by Plushietiger, Shanna W.I. and Aki Masamune. 


	24. Chapter 24

Deliveries

Delivery 24: Failure to Deliver

The day had finally come, and if anyone who heard was superstitions, they would think the Gaea cliffs were going to melt. Honestly, everyone had given up hope of Cloud finally telling Tifa about his long time crush. In fact, even Tifa herself thought Cloud would never admit reality, even if she already knew it. But today was the day of truth and Cloud was determined to finally get the words out.

The delivery boy went downstairs with a firm pace, the rhythm of his steps matching with Tifa's soft humming. Today he was feeling confident. Not only had they've been friends for a long time, since childhood, and thus knew each other very well, but they had been living together for some time, and if anything it warranted that they get along very well, at the least; and at the most, it predicted a happy romantic relationship.

Cloud Strife stood confident in front of the bar after all his trials and tribulations. He had missed all his chances to talk to Tifa alone and today he had an audience consisting of Rude and Yuffie, a mismatched audience indeed. Yuffie was loud and energetic, while Rude was so quiet he was barely there.

Yuffie ceased her chatter and paused to look at Cloud, while Rude kept his attention on his drink, ignoring the blond completely until Yuffie started to nudge him. Rude looked at Cloud and for a split second he was surprised, then his expression regained his trademark calm neutrality. Yuffie however was another story, though she was at a loss for words, a miracle in itself, she continued to flail around expressing her shock.

Cloud cleared his throat and spoke, "Tifa," his voice was determined but gentle. "May I talk to you?"

Tifa had been busy cleaning and though she heard Cloud arrive, she had not yet looked at him. "Sure," then her eyes went wide, "Cloud!" She looked at her customers; Rude had quickly gotten over the shock and hid his amusement behind his sunglasses, while Yuffie looked like she would hyperventilate if she didn't recover her ability to speak, but so far she could only babble incoherently.

"I have something important to tell you!" Cloud insisted. "I've been waiting for a long time to tell you and it's my own fault because I... I've been a coward really. I mean, I've had a lot of chances to tell you this and I still haven't. Somehow, I always end up ruining the moment and staying silent instead of just saying something and telling you all about it. I just keep it all bottled up inside like I've been doing for year and years. It's about time I got around to tell you, so I decided that the day when I'll finally say everything is today and here I am. I'm ready, I won't wait anymore, because I've kept us both waiting for long enough already and-"

"Get on with it!" Yuffie slammed her fist against the counter. "Don't ramble and just say it already!"

Cloud took a deep breath; nothing would stop him from telling Tifa how he felt, nothing! "I love you," Rude couldn't take it anymore, hearing Cloud ramble like an idiot, combined with the fact that he had lime green hair and was doing his best to ignore it, was just too much. The usually quiet Turk fell over laughing, causing Cloud to speak his name in surprise, "Rude!"

Then Cloud clasped his hands over his mouth and Tifa felt her eye twitch. She sighed and shook her head while Cloud ran up the stairs in embarrassment and disappointment after ruining the moment again. Little did he know that all of those present, Tifa included, knew what he was trying to say, she just wanted to hear it from him, even if it wasn't the perfect confession.

Once again the delivery boy couldn't deliver his confession. As for his lime green hair, he did manage to bleach it back to normal later. The cause of it was a predictable one, which can be summarized in one word: Reno.

End of Delivery 24

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 24 was requested by Feather Wolf. 


	25. Chapter 25

Deliveries

Delivery 25: Piano Problem

It was black with some white and it was neither square nor round. But those where not the main problems with the item Cloud had to deliver, the problem was its size and the fact that it was delicate, but Cloud decided to forget that second fact and focused on the size. "There's no way..." An imaginary lightbulb appeared atop Cloud's head. "It's a decoration, of course..." But why would Tifa decide to put a piano in the middle of a bar, he didn't know.

"Welcome back Cloud, did you see the piano?" Tifa's question was rather obvious, how could anyone not see the piano? Rather she meant to ask why Cloud had not said anything about the piano.

"I saw it," then something clicked in Cloud's blurry memories, wasn't there a piano at Tifa's house back in Nibelheim? That would explain a lot, maybe Tifa wanted to start playing it again. What remained shrouded in mystery was the reason why Tifa would choose to buy such a large piano when there was clearly hardly any room to put it. The customers might start using it as a table and leaving their glasses on top of it to drip moisture and ruin it. Then Tifa would be upset, and no one wanted to see Tifa upset.

"It's big isn't it?" Tifa had started to wonder why Cloud wasn't alarmed by the piano. He was too calm, which caused her to conclude that the fact that he was supposed to deliver the piano either escaped him, or he was in a state of shock unable to further react.

"Yes, it is." There was a pause followed by an awkward silence until Cloud finally asked, "why did you decide to buy such a big piano?"

"I didn't," Tifa replied and Cloud began to pale, fearing the worse. Then Tifa dropped the bomb, "you're supposed to deliver that piano to Rufus' office... on the top floor of Shinra..."

"Please tell me there's a cargo elevator we somehow missed," Cloud begged.

But Tifa shook her head solemnly, "I'm sorry Cloud but I... we..." She took a deep breath and decided it was time to take a stand. "You know that new company, Planet Power, that uses oil to produce electricity instead of mako or coal? Not many people realize it, but Shinra actually owns it, they just thought it would be best to give it a more planet friendly name. It's supposed to be supervised and approved by the World Restoration Organization, but Shinra owns ninety-three percent of its stock, to be specific, Rufus does, and the WRO owns the rest."

"Did he threaten to cut our electricity if I didn't delivery the piano?" Cloud gripped the handle of his sword, which always rested on his back.

Again Tifa shook her head, "no, it's not like that. Rufus has been more understanding than I thought he would be."

That reply took Cloud by surprise, "what do you mean?"

"Christmas recently ended. Because of the holiday season I got some extra customers and worked none stop. But the prices of the drinks had also gone up and since alcohol is not indispensable, they can't freeze the prices. I also have other bars to compete with so I couldn't bring my prices up to make up for the costs. The point is, thanks to the extra sales, I did make more gil even if I had to spend more, supply, demand, volume, you know. But it was Christmas and then came New Years. We bought a lot of presents for our friends and the kids, and then we got all those fireworks. Even if I did make more gil, I spent more than I made and well..." Tifa paused there, she didn't want to be mean, but they were mostly living off her work. She not only took care of the bar in the evening and nights, but she also ran it as a restaurant during the day, all the while playing secretary for Strife Delivery Service.

The delivery boy in question felt a harsh wave of guilt wash over him. There he was, splurging his gil in accessories for Fenrir while Tifa was supporting everyone. "I'm sorry..."

Tifa sighed, "it's okay Cloud, we'll get through this. Anyway, we're a little behind in our electric bill. We owe the entire month of December and what we've consumed in January so far. Rufus couldn't find someone to deliver the piano to the top floor of Shinra since they don't have a cargo elevator and it won't fit in the regular one. He was thinking about having it tied to a helicopter but the WRO thinks it's too dangerous and an aircraft that's actually designed for cargo would be too big to land on the roof. Rufus said he would take care of the electric bills for December and January if you deliver the piano safely."

"How could they not have a cargo elevator?" Cloud's world was falling apart as he continued to think about the upcoming task.

"Shinra has retired from the heavy equipment industry. It would make them look bad if they had a cargo elevator in their new headquarters when they're only supposed to be working as a company that manages data now," Tifa explained.

Cloud pouted, everyone knew that Shinra had their secret bases elsewhere, the WRO just haven't found them yet. "Then, I'll have to carry the piano up the stairs..." Cloud sat down before his knees gave in at the mere thought of the approaching ordeal.

"Don't worry," Tifa tried to look on the bright side. "Rufus assigned the Turks to help you," and that only made Cloud feel worse.

End of Delivery 25

The stories "Missions" and "Deliveries" are connected. The continuation Delivery 25 will be posted on Mission 57. The piano delivery was requested by kikofreako. Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Thanks to SugarHoney91 for helping with grammar. 


	26. Chapter 26

Deliveries

Delivery 26: Piano Trickery

Rufus was getting dizzy watching the chase around his desk, consisting of Reno running for his life and Cloud trying to take it away. The president cleared his throat and the world seemed to freeze under his icy glare. Both Reno and Cloud could merely turn their heads towards the Rufus from the same places where they stood. "Where is my piano?"

Cloud's stiffness disappeared and his body felt like jelly. Rufus was holding all the cards and Cloud didn't want Tifa, Marlene and Denzel to be left without electricity and who knows what else. "I... he dropped it," Cloud pointed at Reno.

Reno raised his arms in defense, "I did not! You let it go first!"

"Enough!" The two bickering men were silenced by the president again. Rufus sighed and massaged his temples. "If only I had a cargo elevator this wouldn't have happened. No matter how many times I tell the World Restoration Organization that Shinra is reformed, they won't believe me. Reeve keeps saying that we don't need cargo elevators if we're only working with managing data; he thinks we're going to hide weapons up here if we're given the means. I even had to hire the carpenters to come up here and build my desk in the office, just so I could have a decent sized desk to work on." More like a gigantic desk, but at least that solved the mystery about how it got there without a cargo elevator.

"The piano..." Cloud stared at his feet, "and Tifa's electricity bills..."

"It's alright, even if I was the one who proposed this deal, I fully intended on paying those bills. In fact, would you give this envelope to Tifa? It has the receipts that certify that her electricity bills have been fully paid up to date." Rufus stepped around his huge desk and handed the envelope to a shocked Cloud. "Don't worry about the piano; I'll have someone take care of it. Oh, if only Reeve had been more reasonable about the cargo elevator..." Rufus dramatized.

xoxox xox xoxox

Some time later, at the WRO headquarters, Cloud persuaded Reeve into letting Rufus have a cargo elevator at the new Shinra headquarters. By persuaded I mean he criticized Reeve's cruel mistrust, despite Rufus' acts of kindness which proved that he had changed, while making choking motions that made Reeve feel very threatened and intimidated.

Cloud would have waved his sword around for effect, but the unfortunate delivery boy found that it was missing. The receptionist testified that it was confiscated in a random security visit from WRO, while Cloud was battling it out with Reno and the piano on the stairs. "I want my sword back too!"

"I assure you, I don't know what you're talking about," Reeve truthfully replied.

Then the door to Reeve's office was opened and two men walked in carrying a large sword together with great effort. "Mr. Tuesti, where do you want us to put this?"

Cloud glared daggers at Reeve and grabbed his sword. "I thought we were on the same side! I thought you really wanted to help the planet!" He was having a horrible day and finally snapped in an emotional breakdown. "Are you just searching for power?" Cloud yelled.

"No, of course not! I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding! The cargo elevator... consider it done. In fact, we will not only authorize it, but the WRO will also finance its construction as well!" Reeve pleaded.

"Fine, just make sure you don't go back on your word," Cloud stomped out of Reeve's office and left the WRO headquarters.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Rufus was at his office when he received a call from Cloud. "Is that so? Then you were able to reason with him? Wonderful, I commend you on your skills as a negotiator. No problem; don't worry about that, and thank you." Rufus hung up with a wide grin on his face. "Reno, you can tell the Junon division we will be ready to receive the new shipment as soon as the cargo elevator is complete."

xoxox xox xoxox

Meanwhile, at the WRO's headquarters, Reeve had calmed down enough to demand an explanation from the two employees that brought in the sword.

"He said it was an antique decoration for your office, a gift," one of the employees stammered.

"Who said that?" Reeve asked.

"The man who brought the sword, we don't know his name," the other employee replied. "It was a bald man wearing a suit and sunglasses."

Reeve twitched, they had been deceived. "Tricky Shinra..."

End of Delivery 26

The piano saga was inspired by kikofreako and it includes Delivery 25, Mission 57, Mission 58 and Delivery 26. Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. 


	27. Chapter 27

Delivery 27 is more "calm" than the others so far. It's somewhat bittersweet in a way but does have some humor here and there. Anyway, I hope you still like it even if it is the black sheep of the collection.

Deliveries

Delivery 27: A Song of Opposites

Reno covered his ears but he could still clearly imagine the sound he didn't hear. He closed his eyes, but even if he wasn't looking at the source of the sound, he knew it was there. "Tifa, make it stop!"

Tifa, known to be the caretaker of pretty much everyone, knew she was expected to give Reno something that would make his headache go away, because she guessed that was the problem. As anticipated, Tifa did just that, placing some pain killers and a glass of water on the counter in front of Reno.

Reno looked at the items placed before him, "this won't help."

"Don't you have a headache?" Tifa asked.

"No, I just want Mr. Emo to shut up!" Reno pointed at Cloud who was lost in his own little world sitting by the window and did not react to Reno's complaint.

Tifa then proceeded to remove the headphones from over her ears. She could hear Reno's words just fine over the music, though it did help ease the strain of listening to his insistent chatter. However, the music playing in her ears completely blocked out the sound of Cloud's soft singing. "Cloud..." Tifa let out a breath.

"Make it stop!" Reno begged.

"Stop complaining, it's not that bad. Cloud actually sounds pretty good but so sad..." and it broke Tifa's heart, but at the same time she didn't want to interrupt the beautiful melody.

"That's just it! It's sad and emo and I don't like it!" Reno pouted.

Tifa sighed and shook her head. "You're opposites, you and Cloud. You're always cheerful even in a situation where a normal person wouldn't be. You always say what's on your mind, even if nobody asks, and it takes a lot for me to get Cloud to say anything. You're always asking everyone who they like, always talking, but Cloud he..." Tifa shook her head.

"He likes you but is too cowardly to get it out already, and maybe too stupid to realize you already know?" Reno offered to finish the statement.

Tifa nodded, "you never worry and you never stress. Could you..." Tifa silenced herself as the realization sunk in and she observed Reno's expression. How could she so carelessly come close to suggesting such a thing that would surely end in disaster? "Listen closely; I don't want you to try to make Cloud as carefree as you, so wipe that mischievous grin off your face. I'm not letting you pick on him!"

"How did you know I was thinking that?" The Turk was an open book, unlike the delivery boy who kept things bottled up. Reno glared at Cloud who continued to ignore the world around him. "I was only trying to help."

Light rain began to fall, fitting Cloud's solemn mood perfectly. It reminded him of Aerith as the rain slowly became more abundant and he continued singing about his loneliness, making up the words that didn't always rhyme but somehow matched. After a while, Reno left the grim atmosphere despite the rain and Tifa went to hug Cloud. It was a gesture Cloud didn't expect but greatly appreciated and for once in a long time, it made him smile.

The next day Cloud was feeling a lot better. However, that would soon change when he went to work as usual and realized that all the requests for deliveries he was supposed to pick up were false and they held no clues as to who played the joke on him. Let's just say, Reno doesn't like it when someone spreads a gloomy mood.

End of Delivery 27

Disclaimer, I don't own final Fantasy VII. Delivery 27 was inspired by a review from Sacred3, the concept was Cloud singing about his loneliness and it starts to rain. 


	28. Chapter 28

Deliveries

Delivery 28: Costa Del Sol

After all those frustrating missions and deliveries, Cloud and Reno both needed a vacation. Thus Reno decided to run off to Costa del Sol and invited Cloud to come along. Though Cloud was doubtful that he should leave without finishing his deliveries or telling anyone, his frustration was too much and the image of the cool relaxing waves and the warm comforting sun of Costa del Sol, was too tempting to pass off.

As a result, Cloud ended up getting a ride from Reno and tagging along to the beach. The two men sat at the beach relaxing and providing delicious eye candy for all the lucky tourists and local fan girls. The soft waves washed against the shore and the sun shone brightly in the skies with no clouds to be seen anywhere, save for Cloud Strife at the beach.

"You're going to fry and I'm going to laugh," Reno said in a teasing song-like voice.

Cloud pouted and glared at the sun block as if it was his worse enemy. "I don't need that," he pouted stubbornly. Zack didn't need it, so neither did Cloud.

Though Reno was supposed to be the more foolish of the two, Cloud had his points. He remembered, even if he did not wish to recall, a time when he went on vacation to that very same beach in Costa del Sol along with Zack, a few other soldiers, Turks and infantrymen. Coincidentally their vacations overlapped, which gave Cloud time to hang out with his best friend Zack.

When at the beach, Zack did squats and refused to wear any type of protective skin lotion, claiming he didn't need it. Cloud also remember witnessing Zack's excellent swordsmanship with a beach umbrella, noting that it could be just as powerful as a buster sword if handled with skill.

Cloud admired Zack and aspired to be like him, so of course, he wanted to imitate his hero. Thus Cloud refused to wear sun block, despite the fact that his complexion was far more sensitive than Zack's. The result was a very red and pained Cloud Strife, who swore never to set foot on the beach without sun block, and later broke his oath.

"Good thing I brought a camera," Reno grinned.

Cloud pouted some more, "it's not like you're wearing anything to protect yourself from the sun." In repose, Reno held up the bottle of sun block, to which Cloud insisted, "you're still not wearing it."

"I was about to," Reno looked amused, as if he was plotting something he would greatly enjoy.

"I'm not putting it on you," Cloud warned.

"I don't want you to," Reno urgently assured. "I was going to call a certain someone for this..." There was a dramatic paused in which Cloud looked curious, confused and a somewhat worried, while Reno continued to grin smugly. "Where are you body of thoughts?"

"I'm here, I'm always watching..." a female voice was heard behind Cloud, which caused the delivery boy to jump in surprise and fall off his beach chair, face first into the sand, and Reno laughed.

At first it was a little creepy to be stalked by a body of thoughts, but those were the thoughts of Reno's fan girls, they created that girl who always followed him. Her appearance was different every time Reno saw her, though she mostly followed him from a distance until that occasion when he began to doubt that his fan girls still loved him and the body of thoughts spirited him away to prove that they did.

The only explanation was that, since she was made from the thoughts of many different fan girls, she had no definite form and adjusted her appearance to fit the environment where she appeared. Regardless of the colors she chose, she always looked beautiful, because the lustful obsessive pure love of fan girl is beautiful.

"Where did you come from?" Cloud asked when he regained his composure and was done glaring daggers at Reno. There was something strange about that girl, as if she was no ordinary human, though Reno certainly wasn't bothered by it.

"Mind giving me a hand with this," Reno held up the sun block, fully expecting a positive reply.

"I can't, my sisters, the ones who created me, will be angry if I touch you unless it is absolutely necessary." Then she disappeared, leaving a very freaked out Cloud and a very upset Reno.

"Reno, did you see that? She vanished!" Cloud pointed at the empty spot where the girl stood a mere few seconds ago. Though the locals didn't seem bothered by it, it was as if they were used to strange occurrences taking place at the beach, even if this was very different from the occasional sea monster.

Now it was Reno's turn to pout stubbornly and throw the sun block to the sea in frustration, "fine be that way!" In the end, both Cloud and Reno were fried by the hot sun.

End of Delivery 28

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 28 is a sequel to Mission 55 but can also be read as a separate story, it was requested by Sharem. Mission 60 can be considered the third part of this little saga, but can also be read as a stand alone one shot as well. 


	29. Chapter 29

Deliveries

Delivery 29: Nightmares and Carrots

Studies have revealed that people dream every time they sleep. Dreaming is part of the REM stage, which stands for rapid eye movement, and it is a necessary part of the sleep cycle in order to feel rested upon awakening. But even if people dream when ever they sleep, they don't always remember their dreams. That is because the brain interprets the images as unimportant false gibberish and disregards them, not bothering to commit them to memory.

However, if one wakes up during the REM stage and the conscious thought process kicks in, those images will not be automatically disregarded, and the subject will remember the dream. Such was the case of Cloud Strife this morning, even if he certainly wished it wasn't. He had to get up early to make some deliveries and set his alarm clock to wake him up, now wishing that he hasn't, no delivery was worth this.

By mere chance or cruel fate, Cloud was awakened in the middle of a rather gory dream in which Sephiroth had taken control of his mind and was causing him to attack everyone with Omnislash. The images became embedded in his mind and when he woke up, Cloud screamed at the top of his lungs, threw his alarm clock against a wall and proceeded to cry like a baby.

"Cloud!" Tifa rushed upstairs to rescue her hero. "What happened? Are you hunt? Say something!"

"Nightmare," Cloud chocked out while Tifa hugged him and tried to console him. "Sephiroth... the nightmare..."

"Shh, it's okay Cloud, it was only a nightmare, Sephiroth isn't coming back." Tifa continued trying to calm Cloud, holding him close and caressing him gently.

Meanwhile Reno stood at the door looking annoyed, "how come nobody cares that I had a nightmare about being magically turned into carrot?" The other Turks were there as well, they came to have breakfast before heading to Shinra. Marlene and Denzel had been woken up by the scream and stood there sleepily in their pajamas.

Tifa glared at Reno, "shut up carrot-top!" Couldn't he see that she was busy with a hysterical Cloud?

Reno gasped and pointed at Tifa, "you didn't just call me that!"

Elena giggled, then it evolved into a full laugh, which was joined by Tseng, Marlene, Denzel and even Rude. In fact, Cloud also laughed a little. "Carrot-top..." the delivery boy let out silly sounding giggle, "carrot-top..."

"Stop it Strife!" Reno yelled. "I'll take strawberry, that's okay because strawberries are kind of cool, but I won't accept any carrots! Actually don't call me strawberry either, that's just weird coming from you."

Cloud let go of his Sephiroth-trauma for a moment and smiled at Reno's annoyed expression. "Carrot," the blond grinned mischievously, "from now on, you're Carrot!"

Tifa nodded in agreement, "right, don't forget everyone, Reno is Carrot, got it memorized?"

"Are you going to come play videogames with us after work today, uncle Carrot?" Denzel asked and Reno twitched.

"Say yes uncle Carrot, it'll be fun!" Marlene added, and Reno twitched some more.

"You're all pure evil!" Reno pouted and stomped away while the rest of the group continued to laugh.

End of Delivery 29

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 29 was inspired by a review from Houkaru Kisaragi. There is also a reference to Axel's famous quote from Kingdom Hearts, "got it memorized?" We all know Reno and Axel look alike, but I thought it would be funny if someone other than Reno was the one to use the quote. 


	30. Chapter 30

Deliveries

Delivery 30: Return of the Paper Boy

He should have been thankful, he kept telling himself. Cloud really should be glad he was given another chance, but he wasn't. Far from it, Cloud Strife was miserable. The insistent barking was ear splitting, and though he was in a good physical condition and did not tire easily, Cloud was fed up with all that running. Maybe doing this on foot hoping to attract less attention than on Fenrir wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Stop chasing me you stupid mutt!" Cloud yelled without looking back at the dog that continued giving chase. It was a good thing that he didn't bring his sword, or else he would have sliced that dog to pieces. "Go away!" He wanted to kick the mutt, he really did, but he knew it would somehow backfire, because for the unfortunate Cloud Strife, everything always did.

It was all Reeve's fault, Cloud told himself, but in truth it was Cloud's own fault for accepting to take back the newspaper delivery job despite having a certain feeling that it would turn out badly, and that dark premonition was correct. Cloud Strife was tempted to go back into his own illusionary world and believe that was not a paperboy, nor was he a delivery boy at all. He was Cloud Strife, Soldier First Class.

Cloud turned around and held his ground. "Go away!" He screamed at the dog, glaring at it with piercing mako eyes.

The dog let out a frightened high pitched squeak as if it had been harshly kicked, though Cloud never touched it; and it ran away whining loudly and completely terrified.

Cloud stood there watching as the dog disappeared in the distance down the street, turning a corner and leaving his line of vision. "I'm a monster..." It was another phase of making himself believe he was a Soldier First Class and not a delivery boy. Like others Soldiers before him, Cloud was now having his 'I'm a monster' moment of angst.

"Oh no sweetie; that mean dog had it coming." Coincidentally, the chase had stopped in front of the house of an old lady. The old woman was the classic granny type with graying hair and a sweet patient voice. "You're a tall little boy." She completely ignored the contradiction in her sentence as she assumed that Cloud was in fact still a school boy, albeit a tall one. "You must drink your milk every day, that's very good."

"Um... thanks..." Cloud honestly wasn't sure how to respond.

"No need to be shy sweetie, oh my granddaughter would love you! She likes shy cute boys," the old lady giggled like a fan girl plotting to pair up her favorite 'shipping' or pairing.

"I really should be going; I have to deliver more newspapers..." Cloud thought it was time to leave before the old lady decided to play matchmaker.

"I understand sweetie, but tell me, do you have any spare newspapers? Mr. Fluffykins could really use some for his litter box..."

Cloud sighed and decided that he hated this job and that he didn't care what Reeve or anyone else said or did if he failed. Cloud Strife was not a paperboy, nor was he a delivery boy; he was a Soldier First Class. "Just take them all," and with that said, Cloud gave the old lady his entire bag full of newspapers and ran off to fetch his sword and go on an imaginary Soldier mission someplace far away.

End of Delivery 30

Disclaimer, I do not own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 30 was inspired by a review from Feather Wolf, whom I also credit for the name 'Mr. Fluffykins'. 


	31. Chapter 31

Deliveries

Delivery 31: Marble Guilt

"I didn't do anything!" It didn't matter how many times Reno defended his innocence, no one would believe him.

"This has gone too far, I want you to stop picking on Cloud!" Tifa shook her accusing finger at Reno.

The red haired mischievous Turk was currently trapped in a corner of the Seventh Heaven. He had gone there for some food and drinks but ended up trapped by an angry Tifa. "I really didn't do anything new and you already scolded me for last time!"

"Don't try to deny it, you shouldn't tell lies." It was the first grade all over again, except this time Tifa was the teacher and thus Reno was in a lot more trouble than in school.

Reno was actually telling the truth, he had already received his scolding from Tifa for picking on Cloud last time and didn't know why he was being scolded if he hasn't done anything else to Cloud yet. "What makes you think I did anything?"

"Who else would do something like this?" Tifa was jumping to conclusions, but no one could really blame her given Reno's past behavior. When something went wrong with Cloud, Reno was the first suspect.

"It's okay Tifa, I'm used to this kind of thing," Cloud was standing next to Tifa staring at his feet.

Tifa affectionately placed her hand on Cloud's shoulder. "Don't worry Cloud, you have true friends."

"Aren't you going to tell me what's going on, because if I'm going to be falsely accused I at least deserve to know why!" Reno complained.

"You know why!" Tifa retorted, refusing to explain what she was sure Reno already knew about all too well. Reno pouted and decided it was useless to try to get more information from Tifa, while she continued her speech. "After all my worries that you would try to corrupt Cloud, I was actually glad you two were apparently getting along. But then you went back to picking on him!"

Reno thought it was best to disregard Tifa's speech, which might have not been such a wise decision, and instead spoke to Cloud, "wimp."

That was all it took for Cloud to whip out his sword and hold it dangerously close to Reno's neck. "I'm not going to fall for your tricks anymore and I'm not delivering the-" Cloud's cellphone rang. The delivery boy returned the large sword to its place on his back and answered it, much to Reno's relief. "Strife Delivery Service... Hello Vincent... What? Marble? You mean you really did ask for that block of marble to be delivered so you could sculpt a statue? That wasn't Reno using your name to play a joke on me? No, it's fine, no problem, I'll deliver the marble right away, see you soon." After the call ended Cloud looked apologetic, Reno looked both accusing and relived and Tifa looked surprised. "Um... Sorry."

Reno pouted and refused to dignify Cloud's apology with an answer. He knew the misunderstanding was his fault for being so troublesome in the past, but he was feeling stubborn. "C'mon Reno, it was a misunderstanding, we're sorry we accused you so please forgive Cloud." Tifa's request was more like an order; she wouldn't allow Cloud to carry anymore guilt.

"Fine; and I'll even tag along to help with the delivery," Reno grinned mischievously.

Tifa gave Reno a warning glare but Cloud was quick to accept, "thanks..." Cloud knew Reno was only looking for amusement but felt guilty for accusing him. Thus the mischievous Turk and the unlucky delivery boy were off on another adventure.

End of Delivery 31

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 31 was requested by Rei Mumei. The concept was "Cloud delivering a block of marble to Vincent so that he may sculpt a statue with it." But we all know that Cloud's deliveries never turn out as they should. 


	32. Chapter 32

Deliveries

Delivery 32: Marble Determination

Reno was known to be a troublemaker. Ever since he was little it had been that way. Later, when he was a teenager he found his way to Shinra along side his best friend Rude and through a series of events that Reno would remember as fun, Rude would refer to as disorganized but necessary, and others would simply call chaotic, they ended up joining the Turks.

Reno had been on many dangerous missions with the Turks, everything from infiltration, to sabotage, to kidnapping and even the elimination of certain obstacles. That was what the Turks did, to put it negatively. It was a job that not everyone could handle, but Reno certainly could.

Reno liked to think of himself as fearless and strong, though others would call him rash and cocky. Somehow, the Turks always finished their missions, because they're Turks and that's what they do. One way or another, they make things work.

However, Reno could never foresee what was to occur. He thought he could get a laugh out of accompanying Cloud on his delivery. Reno's mission was to help deliver a block of marble to Vincent for sculpting purposes, or at least that's what his mission officially was. In truth, Reno's real mission was simply to have fun at Cloud's account. But after taking a shortcut riding on Fenrir through the wasteland to avoid the heavy traffic of the highway and the curious stares at the large block of marble tied to the motorcycle, Cloud had become distracted with a sad memory linked to his dear friend Zack Fair, and lost control of Fenrir, trapping both himself and Reno in a natural pitfall.

Reno was trapped, in pain, beaten and bruised. He narrowly escaped being crushed by the block of marble or Fenrir, but currently he faced a fate that was perhaps more frightening than the possibility of being sent to the life stream a few years too early, consoling Cloud Strife.

"Stop that!" Reno pouted and got to his feet, dusting himself off as best as he could. "You big baby..."

Cloud only cried harder, which made Reno wonder how in the world did Tifa maintain her sanity if she had to deal with these episodes.

"Alright, alright, don't cry!" Reno was at a loss for what to do. He mentally told himself to get things together and deal with this. "Don't give up?" Reno attempted to give Cloud some kind words, though they sounded unsure.

Then Cloud miraculously stopped crying and in a split second pushed Fenrir, along with the block of marble out of the pitfall. "Come on!" He extended his hand to help Reno out.

Surprised and unsure, Reno accepted the help and after getting back on the path asked, "how did you do that?"

"I remembered Zack and was sad because I miss him, we were always great friends. But then you told me not to give up and I remembered Zack always used to tell me that so I didn't give up!"

Reno nodded slowly. Cloud just had one of the fastest and most drastic mood swigs he had ever seen, and people dared to say Reno was random.

On the bright side, Cloud and Reno did manage to deliver the block of marble to Vincent without too many additional difficulties, though Vincent did wonder why they were covered in sand.

End of Delivery 32

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. The marble saga was requested by Rei Mumei and it includes Delivery 31, Mission 63 and Delivery 32, but they can also be read as one-shots.

I want to thank everyone who has been sending me ideas. I'm adding everything to my notes. The list of ideas is becoming rather long so it might take a while for your suggestions to be written, but I'll get to it eventually so keep an eye on my stories. Thanks everyone! Sorry it took me so long to update, I'm working on too many fics at once but I have been posting something new every day. 


	33. Chapter 33

Deliveries

Delivery 33: Medusa

His back was killing him, he had lost count of how many blocks of marble he had delivered and he was starting to think it wasn't worth the effort for the gil he got. Cloud wouldn't be able to enjoy the fruits of his hard work if he broke his spine, or dislocated his arms, or suffered a similar fate. It just wasn't worth it if all his savings were spent on hospital bills.

Thus the delivery boy decided that this was the last time he would deliver a block of marble to Vincent. At least Reno didn't tag along this time, but that hardly made things better since delivering one huge block of marble to the Shinra Mansion after another was bad enough, with or without Reno to annoy him.

However, when Cloud entered the Shinra Mansion for what he assured himself would be the last time in a long time; he became even more scarred for life. At first his vision was blocked by the huge marble he held. "I'll just leave this here. Cloud set the marble down in the main hall of the mansion. Then he saw them, he was surrounded by strange and hideous monsters, medusas it seemed.

Automatically, Cloud's now empty hands rushed to his face, covering his eyes. He reached for his sword, which he insisted on carrying on his back despite the weight adding to that of the marble he had been carrying. The heavy sword alone was fine, Cloud was used to it, but the blocks of marble from his recent deliveries were too much, and the weight of the sword added to the needed effort.

Even so, Cloud was glad he brought his sword as he prepared to fight the army of monsters that surrounded him, without gazing at their hideous faces to avoid turning into stone. Then he stopped, sword in mid swing, muscles tense from the sudden halt in motion. It was Vincent's alarmed "stop!" that prevented Cloud's attack upon one of the medusa fiends.

"Vincent, close your eyes! We're surrounded by medusas!" Cloud called out in a panic.

"Medusas?"" Vincent sounded upset. "These are statues..."

Cloud opened his eyes and realized that the apparent army of medusas around him, were in fact statues. "You already showed them mirrors?"

"Cloud..." Vincent wasn't sure if he should feel angry and insulted or helpless and depressed. "These are my statues; I carved them from the marble you delivered."

If before Cloud thought delivering so much marble was a bad idea, now he was certain that it was a terrible idea. Mutant creatures could look artistic at times, but this was too creepy. "At least you tried," Cloud's expression did little to make his consolation more credible. "Actually, if you were going for a horribly scary monster then you're pretty good." On second thought, it all had to be done on purpose, because statues that horrid could not be made on accident.

Vincent pouted, "she is supposed to be beautiful, like an angel," he then proceeded to go sit in a corner, "I failed."

Cloud sighed, "I know what it's like to be depressed," and he joined Vincent in his corner where they both sat brooding even if Cloud didn't fully understand what Vincent had been trying to accomplish.

This continued until Reno came in, ranting about being bored and wanting to be entertained, though he made the mistake of openly insulting Vincent's so called art. That is when both Vincent and Cloud realized that Reno hunting was just the therapy they needed.

End of Delivery 33

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.


	34. Chapter 34

Deliveries

Delivery 34: Cold Leaves

"Not happening..." Cloud ordered more so than asserted, not that it would change anything. "Not happening!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, scaring the near by stray chocobos. "Not happening!" His voice was carried far away by the wind, but not far enough for assistance to arrive, not that anyone could get there on time anyway. His cell phone's signal had unexpectedly died out and Cloud Strife was in big trouble, as usual. Shinra's satellite just had to choose that day to stop working.

The delivery request this time was from Godo, Yuffie's father and Wutai's leader, if only in name. As part of Shinra's attempt to build a positive image, Rufus Shinra was scheduled to visit Wutai and participate in some sort of elegant yet short tea ceremony. The event was not too overly complex, and followed the same pattern of a casual occasion drinking tea, what made it special was the tea itself.

The tea leaves were extremely rare and only grew around Wutai during the winter, but it was summer. However, that was not a problem since, albeit abundant in Wutai more than anywhere else during the winter, the leaves did grow in other places all year long, such as the area close to Icicle. The leaves were imported and taken to Godo at Wutai, where they had to be kept in constant refrigeration until they were thrown into boiling water too fast to have time to wither. If exposed to a warm atmosphere, the tea leaves would wither in about an hour.

The tea that came from withered leaves would be poisonous, instead of miraculously healing. But the risk wasn't too much of a problem, since the tea would distinctly change color if it was dangerous. However, the press was expecting the meeting between Godo and Rufus, and they wanted to take pictures of the president participating in Wutai's culture. Not having a proper tea ceremony of friendship would be a problem for Rufus, and given how much control Shinra still had over Wutai and its tourist resorts, it would also be troublesome for Godo and the general population of Wutai.

The situation became more complicated after Yuffie was added to the mix. She did not want the tea ceremony to take place, thus tried to steal and dispose of the tea leaves. Godo expected this and handed the leaves to the reliable Cloud Strife, who was supposed to deliver them on time and in perfect condition the day of the ceremony.

Fortunately, Yuffie didn't discover it was Cloud who held the leaves until it was too late, but she did have just enough time to sabotage Fenrir, a fact that took Cloud by surprise, the culprit at the time still unknown. Cloud's precious motorcycle stopped moving just south of the chocobo farm. He had to travel to Junon and catch a ship from there, where he would continue to guard the leaves until they were handed over to Godo in Wutai.

The unfortunate delivery boy examined the contents of the cooler he carried. The leaves were still the purest white, but they would turn brown after the ice around them melted if Cloud didn't do something fast, even if all he wanted to do right now was curl into a ball and cry about his misfortune. Then the sound of an approaching helicopter was heard.

At first Cloud thought he was saved, but then the helicopter, clearly identified as belonging to Shinra, started shooting at him. Cloud grabbed the cooler and evaded the bullets. This was all for Shinra's sake, so why was that helicopter shooting at him? He was as confused as he had ever been, but this was not the time to stop and think about. Whatever miscommunication had occurred, if Cloud didn't do something fast, it would cost him his life. "Not happening!"

End of Delivery 34

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 34 was requested by 2write4life.


	35. Chapter 35

Deliveries

Delivery 35: Pawns

Once upon a time, a delivery boy was sent to make a delivery, an event that happens many times in the world. But this delivery boy was different, though he still called himself a boy, he was in fact a man, a Soldier, though never officially. He was strong, he was agile, he was fast and he was in deep trouble.

The special tea leaves he was to deliver, would bring forth the peace ceremony, a formality without which there could be no peace between Shinra and Wutai. Everyone knows that peace is not about good intentions, truthfulness or sincerity; it is about giving a good show. If the press doesn't have sufficient material to inform everyone that there is peace, then there is no peace.

Fan service is another vital element of peace and many fans wanted to see Rufus in a classic Wutai outfit, like one of those ninjas in the movies, the kind that fight with amazing special effects, even if a real ninja would dress lighter and trip on the complex outfit in real life, because not even a ninja could handle the multitude of colorful layers of fabric and shiny accessories, not to mention it would be bad for camouflage.

Should the tea leaves Cloud transported in a little cooler become warm, that would be the end of them, as they would wither rapidly and become unfit for consumption; hence why Cloud was in a jam, to put it lightly.

The delivery boy, since he prefers to be called boy, ran as fast as he could in the general direction of Junon, where he had to board a ship guarding the tea leaves. His only worry was not the cold fading away in the summer heat and the leaves withering, but also the helicopter that kept shooting at him. Plus poor Cloud was on foot due to his precious Fenrir being sabotaged earlier.

Cloud was so consumed with self pity, that he fell to his knees, unable to bear his misfortune any longer, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "I give up!"

Though Cloud expected the helicopter to continue its relentless attack, instead it laded, and Reno got out. Cloud watched in shock, twitching as the redhead approached.

"Hey Strife!" Reno casually gave Cloud a pat on the back and helped him to his feet. "I'll admit I'm kind of glad you gave up, not that I can't handle the mission, I am a Turk after all, but I didn't want to have to eliminate you. People think Turks and Soldiers can never get along, but that's not true, Tseng told me about how he used to go on missions with a Soldier and-"

Cloud wrapped his hands around Reno's throat, preventing the natural flow of oxygen from continuing. "Why were you shooting at me?"

Reno flailed around, until Cloud realized he could not speak and loosened his grip. "You're trying to poison Rufus!"

"I'm not trying to poison him; this is a delivery for him!" Cloud reluctantly let Reno go.

"Then you were tricked, I should have known," Reno rubbed his neck where Cloud had nearly broken it, but he mentally assured himself a Turk could take it.

Cloud wasn't sure if he should take Reno's statement in a positive light, Cloud was innocent, he was not an enemy of Shinra and he was not trying to harm anyone. Or he could see the negative side hidden in Reno's tone; Cloud was an idiot to be tricked. The delivery boy decided to go with the positive version, because he couldn't stand one more negative thing in his life, "explain."

"I received a message from an anonymous person saying that you were carrying poison disguised as tea leaves, so I had to save my paycheck, I mean my dear president." Reno showed Cloud the message in his PHS.

Upon examining the message, the way it was written and its general tone, Cloud thought it was familiar. The message was similar to the anonymous messages Zack would get every now and then, and show Cloud in the past. Being so nice and heroic, Zack would run off to investigate, even if Cloud, as well as several others, didn't recommend it. "It's a fake, cruel spam."

"How do you know?" Reno inquired.

"What's to stop someone who hates Shinra from trying to ruin the peace ceremony at Wutai?" Cloud reasoned.

"Good point," Reno analyzed the situation, "I know, we'll make the delivery and at the Junon point, we can have the cargo tested and if the goods are tainted we'll dump them. No one will accuse you, since you couldn't help it but to be tricked."

Cloud pouted at Reno's allusion to his lack of intelligence, but decided he wasn't in the mood to argue. "Fine, let's go." At least he could ride in a helicopter the rest on the way. "Reno, you sounded like an illegal trader for a second there," Cloud mused as the two walked towards the helicopter.

"That's the negative side," Reno laughed and climbed in the chopper, followed by Cloud. Both men strapped themselves in and Reno tried to take off.

A few minutes passed. "Why aren't we moving?" Cloud was becoming both impatient and worried.

"I don't know; everything looks fine with the controls, but I don't see a lot of wind outside. Could you take a look?" Reno requested.

"Don't abandon me," Cloud spoke the line with such emotion, he could have been playing the most dramatic scene in a movie.

Though Reno just thought it was weird and unenthusiastically replied, "I won't."

When Cloud took a look outside, he saw that the helicopter blades were gone. Not completely gone, a small portion of them was there, ranging from five inches to a foot long, definitely not long enough to fly. "Reno! Someone cut off the chopper's blades!"

As if on cue, Yuffie jumped out from behind the helicopter, where she had been hiding unnoticed. "The treasure Princess claims victory! Score another for the White Rose!"

Just as a very angry Reno and Cloud were about to wipe that victorious grin off Yuffie's face, both their PHS received a message at once. The message was directed to the Turks and supporting team, which included Cloud, and read, "the peace ceremony has been a success, return to Shinra."

They were all perplexed at first, but later realized that the delivery had been a decoy, this time Godo took care to consider the threat his daughter presented. The time announced for the ceremony was not when it was to take place, it was the hour in which the ceremony would be broadcasted world-wide, supposedly live. In truth, by then it would have all been over and Rufus would be at Healin Lodge enjoying the pleasure of seeing himself on TV.

End of Delivery 35

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Regardless of what Yuffie may say, Godo didn't get to be the leader of a ninja village for nothing. XD This is a sequel to Delivery 34, which was requested by 2write4life. 


	36. Chapter 36

I have less than 100 stories left to revise! Though still more than 90. Even so, this is big for me because I had over 400 one shots begging to be revised organized in collections. I'm close to being done and having more time to write new stories!

Deliveries

Delivery 36: Delivery Man

"I think it's cool," that was the last thing Cloud needed to hear. If Reno thought it was cool, it meant it was bad for Cloud, not that he needed any confirmation, this was obviously bad.

Cloud frowned like he never frowned before, he was reminded of Robin's colorful super hero costume. Batman wore black, Batman was ready to sneak around in the night, Batman used logic. Robin wore a red and green outfit with a yellow cape. Who in their right mind would wear such bright colors while trying to sneak around in the darkness? It made no sense what so ever.

Than again, Cloud was not expected to sneak around in the darkness of the night, playing vigilante and stopping criminals. That was the Turks' job now and hey did it in their usual uniforms. Cloud was expected to catch people's attention and amuse them like a clown in hopes of getting more customers.

"I don't like-" Cloud stopped as he watched Tifa's expression fall. He had arrived home at the Seventh Heaven after making a delivery to find Tifa all worked up about a surprise for him. Then Cloud was dragged upstairs and locked in his room with the order of changing into the outfit that was left for him on his bed.

Cloud was horrified when he saw the strange super hero costume with the initials DM in glittery golden letters on the chest of a bright red, impossibly tight, sleeve shirt, which wasn't long enough to reach his waist and left half his abdomen exposed. The pants were a sickening shade of green, much too tight making them hard to move in and were seven inches too short of reaching his ankles, but still covered the knees so he couldn't pretend they were shorts.

Contrary to the rest of the outfit, the boots and cape were too big. The black leather boots with an excessive amount of silver buckles, were loose, which made them rub against Cloud's feet, even if he wore his thickest socks. He considered wearing layers of socks to fill up the extra space, but the second pair of socks wouldn't fit over the first and he ended up ripping three pairs trying. At least the boots were tall enough to hide that the pants were too short.

There was also a yellow cape, in a bright shade one had to look at with sunglasses, it was so long Cloud had tripped on it five times while trying to fasten it on his shoulders and walk to the door to show Tifa the ridiculous outfit that would satisfy whatever cruel joke she had played on him. Ah, the things he did for love.

Cloud wasn't expecting Reno to be standing in the hall along with Tifa when he came out, nor did he expect the redhead to take a picture. Reno was supposed to be downstairs, eating Tifa's freshly baked cookies. The killing intent was very had to resist for Cloud and as soon as Reno expressed his liking for the outfit, Cloud had to differ, but stopped himself when Tifa looked disappointed.

"I don't like, to show off so stop taking pictures, Reno," Cloud warned through the clenched teeth of his forced smile.

Tifa smiled genuinely, "I think you look very handsome. Reno's idea was great, a super hero, Delivery Man, I'm sure you'll get more customers if you wear that."

Cloud felt himself twitch, not only had Reno started this disaster, but he got Tifa to participate, he must have known Cloud couldn't say no to Tifa. "Reno," Delivery Man growled angrily, "just where did you get this outfit?"

"We were cleaning Healin Lodge and found the pants. They're from an old Robin costume Rufus wore one when he was younger, they don't fit anymore and he doesn't want them anyway, so he told me to give them to you in the name of Shinra, as a good deed," Reno explained.

"Good deed, my foot," Cloud growled, he was sure Rufus and the Turks all had the worse intentions in giving him the hand me down pants.

"About your feet, those boots belonged to Sephiroth; they were laying around in his locker in Junon, they kind of forgot about it until now and asked it to be cleaned out to make space. I guess they thought it would blow up or something, because they wouldn't open it without a Turk there. I didn't know what to do with the boots so I brought them too," Reno's story did not make Cloud happy.

"Sephiroth?" Cloud glared, "are you saying that Sephiroth's stinky feet were once in these boots?"

"Sephiroth's feet did not stink, it's true, I heard all about it, the one with stinky feet was Genesis," Reno informed.

Cloud only growled indignantly in response, while containing the overwhelming need to strangle Reno.

"The shirt is mine," Tifa revealed, "well, it's yours now, Reno said he couldn't find the rest of the Robin costume so I modified one of my shirts and wrote DM for Delivery Man. The cape is made from a sheet; it's nice and long for a heroic look."

"Do I have to work in this?" Cloud grimaced.

"Of course, why not? It will attract more customers!" Tifa was certainly cheerful about the entire idea and Reno looked very amused.

"Thank you," Cloud forced the words out, then directed a deadly glare at Reno that seemed to say he would be needing the protection a real super hero.

End of Delivery 36

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Batman and Robin. Delivery 36 was requested by kikofreako. I still have more suggestions from my reviewers in my notes, so you can expect many more deliveries to come. 


	37. Chapter 37

Deliveries

Delivery 37: Offended

Cloud was convinced that there was something very wrong with him and the hurt in Tifa's eyes further confirmed what the stinging pain in his cheek declared, he had hurt Tifa's feelings. Cloud slowly turned his head back to face Tifa, the red hand print throbbing in pain. With the punches she threw, he knew she could slap very hard, but it was the offense in her eyes that hurt the most. "How can you be so insensitive?"

Cloud's mouth moved but he only chewed air, no words came out, no matter how hard he tried to say something. Then he glared at Reno, whom he had been talking to before Tifa stormed out of the kitchen, marched right up to him and imprinted her hand on his face. She had been doing dishes and Cloud had to tightly close his eyes to protect them from the soap, a few soap bubbles and foam stuck to his hair, but he didn't notice, or didn't care.

"What did I do?" Reno raised his hands in the air. "Tifa storms in and slaps you and you're blaming me? I'll admit I've done my share of the mischief in the past, but this time, I don't even know what this is about." The red haired Turk paused for a moment, until he broke free of Cloud's glare and gave Tifa a puzzled look. "Mind letting me in on the information?"

Tifa huffed, "don't worry about it Reno and thank you." Stomping her feet, Tifa returned to the kitchen.

Cloud growled, teeth clenched and glare deadly. "Reno..."

"I swear I don't know what this is about. I didn't do anything!" Reno thought for a moment, as if collecting his memories and doing a double check, "nope, I didn't do anything, not to Tifa."

"Tifa isn't angry at you, she's angry at me and I know it's your fault!" Cloud was at the end of his patience with Reno.

"If I did anything bad, then Tifa would be angry at me instead, so that proves I'm innocent! Besides, she said thank you, I don't know what for, but she did." This was very confusing to Reno, but his main focus would be to try to prove his innocence, though that wasn't looking good.

Cloud was about to take the fight outside, certain that this disaster, which he still did not fully comprehend, was somehow Reno's fault. However, Tifa's voice interrupted that plan, "enough! Cloud, don't take it out of Reno, the words came out of your mouth, he was defending me."

Both men looked at Tifa, who had returned to stop their argument. Reno nodded energetically, though he didn't know how he defended Tifa and did not remember doing so. It didn't matter, this would surely be beneficial. "Yeah, I was defending her!"

"From what?" Cloud demanded.

"From you," Tifa accused.

Cloud was in shock, "what did I do?"

"You know what you said," Tifa glared.

Cloud was so confused and cornered, he didn't have the energy to fight anymore, instead he turned to Reno for the answers Tifa denied him, "what did I do?"

"You said that thing and I said that other thing," Reno had no idea what was going on and that fact became apparent to Cloud. Nevertheless, Tifa understood Reno's riddles to perfection and nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry!" It was the only thing Cloud could think of saying. "I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry! Tifa, you're the most amazing person I know, kind, nice, sweet, considerate, beautiful, strong, talented and a great cook!"

As Cloud babbled out compliments, Tifa's face softened, despite fighting to keep a stern expression. "If that's what you think, then why were you telling Reno I'm stupid, fat and can't make a decent meal?"

There was a long pause as both Cloud and Reno processed what Tifa was saying. Minutes earlier, they ran into each other on the street and talked while they headed towards the Seventh Heaven. Tifa had only caught part of their conversation.

"She's stupid, fat, and can't possibly make a decent meal," Cloud had insisted.

"Shh, not so loud, Tifa will hear you. Besides, I don't agree, she's all the opposite!" Reno had argued.

As the conversation replayed in their heads, they realized where the misunderstanding came from. "We weren't talking about you!" Cloud wasted no time to clarify. "We were talking about that chocobo. There was this really stupid and fat chocobo at Healin Lodge and whenever I tried to deliver something, she would peck at me. Elena would sometimes call her off, but she didn't really listen. I saw her eating rocks a few times, no wonder she got so heavy with all the rocks she ate. Anyway, since there's no way she can race; Reno was telling me they're going to cook her. I don't think a chocobo that ate rocks would taste very good."

"Don't listen to him," Reno countered, "the roasted chocobo will be a good will gift from Shinra and it was supposed to be a surprise for you, but Cloud ruined it and that's not what the chocobo is like, it's a high quality chocobo!"

"Oh, that's-" Tifa started, but Cloud interrupted.

"Good will gift? Rufus just wants to play a bad joke on us! What does he hope to get out of this?" Cloud looked at Reno suspiciously.

"I'm-" Tifa tried again.

"Nothing!" Reno was quick to defend, though his argument fell, "he just wanted Tifa to put up a couple of fliers here, so that the customers can see them, nothing big."

"Cloud," once again, Tifa was ignored.

"I knew there was a catch!" Cloud continued the argument.

The entire time, Tifa tried to communicate that she understood what happened and wanted to apologize to Cloud. She was also very flattered by what he said and wanted to thank him. She wanted to make it up to him for the false accusation, but she couldn't get a word in. Feeling ignored, Tifa retreated to finish washing the dishes and left Reno and Cloud to their argument, maybe he deserved that slap after all.

End of Delivery 37

Delivery 37 was requested by Houkaru Kisaragi, the concept was Cloud accidentally offending Tifa. Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.


	38. Chapter 38

Deliveries

Delivery 38: Written Confession

"It's only a few pictures," Rufus insisted, but Cloud wouldn't hear it.

"I'm not going to cooperate with this," the delivery boy had gone to Healin Lodge to pick up a package, but instead he was forced to hear a business proposition.

"Is it so far from the truth?" Rufus insisted, ignoring the quiet chuckle from Reno on his left and the roll of his eyes Rufus simply knew Rude was doing behind his sunglasses to his right.

"Yes!" Cloud exclaimed impatiently.

Rufus wanted to continue improving Shinra image and after a gossipy magazine had brought it to light that the president hardly had any friends, Rufus had tried to practice public relations by making sure he was seen in public spending time with other people. Those other people were the Turks in civilian attire, but they were still easy to recognize, thus the desired effect did not take place.

Rufus then had the brilliant idea to become best friends with Cloud and that would surely please the press. However, Cloud refused to pose for the camera that would take the photos to be mysteriously leaked to the media, proving what great friends Rufus and Cloud were.

"Cloud, I'm hurt, I thought we really were friends!" Rufus was certainly pretty enough for the big screen and he was capable of deception if the need arose, but on that particular occasion, his acting was fairly bad.

"Yeah and that's exactly why you need to arrange these pictures instead of just showing up one day at the Seventh Heaven and hanging out like normal people do?" Cloud argued. "Is it that the Seventh Heaven isn't good enough for you?"

"I like the Seventh Heaven," this time Rufus sounded truthful. "I would like to go to the bar or to dinner, Tifa's cooking is first class and she's-" Rufus decided to finish explaining his reason not to go quickly, Cloud was glaring. "Anyway, I can't go to the Seventh Heaven because last time I went the gun arm man tried to kill me."

Ah yes, Barret. Since the Turks, especially Reno and Rude, were such good customers to Tifa, he had to get used to seeing them at the Seventh Heaven more often than not when he returned to Edge from the oil fields to visit. He resolved to thinking that Rufus was the real bad guy controlling the Turks before and thus he convinced himself not to pick a fight with the Turks. Forgiveness was out of the question, he wasn't ready for that, so instead, Barret redirected his anger.

"I guess you have a point, but what about right now? If we're such good friends, than why won't you even talk to me without your bodyguards?" Cloud inquired.

"They wanted to see you too, because we're all good friends," Rufus replied.

"Rude doesn't talk to me and Reno just picks on me all the time," Cloud pouted, not realizing how childish he sounded.

"Do you Reno?" Rufus raised an eyebrow at the red haired Turk.

"Of course not!" Reno defended, "I'm the perfect example of a good friend, Cloud's just emo!"

Cloud continued to pout and glare at Reno, until Rufus sighed and admitted, "fine, so I feel better if my bodyguards are here. It's not my fault that you're mentally unstable and violent." Cloud growled and gripped his sword, which caused Rufus to grin victoriously because his point was proven, despite the implications of his being right, "see what I mean?"

Somehow feeling defeated, Cloud forced himself to relax the battle stance and let his sword rest on his back. "I'm leaving."

"Very well, I am not going to force you to agree, but my call for you to come here on business wasn't false. I do have a delivery for you," Rufus then handed Cloud a letter, "this is for Tifa." Cloud eyed the envelope suspiciously, while Rufus assured it was, "business only."

xoxox xox xoxox

Cloud returned to the Seventh Heaven with the letter, but was he still doubtful about giving it to Tifa. He couldn't resist his curiosity any longer and opened the letter to find a detailed declaration of love. Angry, Cloud crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it towards the trashcan; he didn't bother to look at the signature at the end of the letter. The paper ball bounced off the edge of the trashcan and fell on the floor unnoticed by Cloud.

The upset delivery boy realized that killing Rufus Shinra wouldn't do any good. He resolved he should calm down first, then come up with a plan of action. Cloud left the Seventh Heaven once again, climbed onto Fenrir and sped away, focusing on the road and the wind, to try to clear his head.

xoxox xox xoxox

While Cloud was gone, Tifa remembered it was time to take out the trash, since the truck would pick it up later that evening. She went to Cloud room to see if there was any trash and found a paper ball next to the trashcan. She assumed he meant to throw it away, but she was curious about it and opened it up.

Tifa was shocked at the declaration of love, but why had it been thrown away? "Did he change his mind and thought he might not like me this much after all?" Tifa decided not to mention this to Cloud; though she was feeling disappointed that Cloud wrote her that letter and decided not to give it to her.

xoxox xox xoxox

At Healin Lodge, Rufus waited for his plan to take effect. Everyone knew that Cloud Strife was in love with Tifa Lockhart and didn't have the guts to tell her. Thus Rufus wrote a letter in Cloud's name for the delivery boy to give to Tifa and unknowingly confess his love.

The subject of the letter was unknown even to the Turks, since Rufus feared Reno's big mouth would ruin the plot. After Tifa accepted Cloud, he would be confused but certainly happy. It shouldn't take him too long to put the pieces together and figure out that it was all a kind favor from Rufus. Then Cloud would be more than happy to help with Shinra's good image in gratitude for the help received with his love life.

End of Delivery 38

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 38 is for Holly-Sama, who wanted someone to confess feelings for Tifa. Poor Cloud keeps ruining his chances. XD 


	39. Chapter 39

Deliveries

Delivery 39: The Power of the Mind

Reno stared at his glass, the drink was sweet, so sweet he questioned if it had any alcohol in it at all. He glanced around the Seventh Heaven, the bar was full and the large majority of the people there, with the only exception of Tifa and himself, were drunk. Even Cloud Strife, with all the mako in his system, appeared to be drunk. The delivery was currently singing a terrible sounding duet with Cid Highwind and the rest of the drunken customers of the Seventh Heaven seemed to be enjoying it. No doubt about it, they were very drunk.

"Tifa, I'll have another of these," maybe Reno was more resistant to alcohol than he thought. The drink, though very sweet, was strong enough to even send Cloud into happy drunk land, and Cid had a lot of resistance to alcohol as well, in fact, Reno had never seen the pilot drunk before.

"Here you go," Tifa served the drink with a smile, as if she alone knew the answer to the mystery that plagued Reno, why wasn't he drunk?

Reno drained the new glass quickly, he felt no burn down his throat, no lightheadedness, no need to join Cloud and Cid turning their musical duo into a trio and no intention of telling stupid 'three soldiers walk into a bar' jokes. He was sober, he was very sober. "Tifa, another one and make it really strong."

"Sure," Tifa prepared the drink, serving it in a larger glass this time.

Reno drank it without difficulty, again he felt nothing and it was both puzzling and frustrating. "I'm still sober," he grimaced.

"Another one?" Tifa offered and Reno nodded, thus she served another drink, which he consumed with ease.

"I don't get it," Reno pouted. "I'm not drunk at all!"

Tifa still held her knowing smile. "That's the power of the mind Reno, if you don't want to get drunk and put your mind to it, no matter how much you drink, you won't get drunk. Look at Cloud and Cid, they came here determined to get drunk and they got drunk. You need to put some effort into it; the alcohol alone won't do the job if you're determined to stay sober."

Reno thought about Tifa's words. Her new sweet drink was a hit, everyone was ordering it and everyone was getting drunk on it, except Reno. He wasn't consciously trying to stay sober, but unconsciously, maybe he was. Perhaps the sweetness of the drink had brought him to underestimate it, thus firmly believing that the drink was not strong enough to make him drunk. With that conclusion came determination and his brain refused to succumb to the trance of the alcohol.

"Do you want to try again?" Without waiting for an answer, Tifa placed another tall glass of the sweet substance in front of Reno.

"Okay, I'll really put my mind to it this time," Reno focused hard as he drank slowly. He could feel it now, all those drinks catching up to him. His senses were blurring and his coordination was becoming clumsy like never before. He had never been this drunk in his life. Maybe underestimating the sweet drink was a mistake; it all finally caught up to him. "Wow, you were right, this stuff is strong! What was it called again? 'Navaja'? That means 'Razor', right? Good stuff!" Reno staggered away from the bar, off to the corner where Cloud and Cid were giving an encore, leaning on the wall and on each other to stay on their feet.

Tifa grinned in amusement as Reno joined the singing and the three dissonant men continued their concert. "It's 'Naranja'," Tifa whispered to herself; that meant 'Orange'. Cloud had mistakenly delivered a crate full of orange juice instead of alcohol, but Tifa had to serve her customers something, so she poured the juice into alcoholic looking bottles and that was all it took. To be drunk or to be sober, it was all in their heads.

End of Delivery 39

Delivery 39 was requested by Sacred3, the concept was Cloud delivering orange juice. Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Navaja (razor) and naranja (orange) are Spanish words. 


	40. Chapter 40

I'm back! :D I have accomplished my goal of reducing my in-progress chaptered stories to one at a time, sort of. I actually have three I need to finish, but one is basically done and another is co-written (it's in another archive) and it's not my turn to post, so that leaves just one story that I'm working on "full time" by myself. Hopefully now I'll have time to give my one-shot collections some attention since I put them on hiatus to finish my chaptered stories.

If you haven't already, check out "Reintegration" (Final Fantasy VII) I just recently finished it and people seem to be happy with how it turned out, I had lots of fun writing it too. In other fandoms, I'm nearly done with "Magma" (Avatar) and I'm working on "Don't Give Me Diamonds" (Pokemon), which is a little over half way done, but I'm updating regularly.

Deliveries

Delivery 40: Insurance

Rufus Shinra was very pleased, his face not matching the situation at all. However, there were no cameras or paparazzi there to capture his unfitting expression and somewhat cruel joy. To his benefit, the accident had not been fatal, he wasn't heartless, he was simply amused.

"I'm really sorry," Cloud had not stopped staring at the floor of Reeve's office at the World Restoration Organization Headquarters since he and Rufus, along with Reno who was the president's bodyguard for the day, arrived. "Really I am!" He lifted his gaze a little, but lowered it to the floor again when he caught sight of Reeve's stern look. He was just like a little boy who broke something important and wanted to convince his parents that his guilt was so great he required no further punishment to learn his lesson.

"Accidents happen," the victorious grin never left Rufus' face as he placed his hand on Cloud's shoulder.

More so than feeling supported, Cloud felt like Rufus was rubbing salt on the wound, metaphorically speaking, for his actual wound had already been taken care of. It was a small scratch, but Rufus insisted on Cloud accepting his kindness and sent Reno, the closest Turk at the time, to give him first aid. As a result Cloud now sported a chocobo decorated band-aid on his right arm.

"Yeah, accidents happen!" Reno agreed grinning like a Cheshire cat, then the cat turned into a sad kitten as he looked at Rufus, "the president is always forgiving, right?"

"Most of the time," Rufus warned, he didn't want Reno to go crashing any of the Shinra owned vehicles for fun thinking he could get away with it, not that Cloud's crash had been the redhead's fault; for once, Reno was not to blame for the latest accident.

Reeve sighed deeply and massaged his temples, his headache ever growing. "Insurance, insurance..." he muttered. Cloud appeared to be sincerely sorry for the occurrence, albeit regardless of that, Reeve would have to pay for his good will.

Cloud had not been doing so well in his delivery business, it's no that he didn't get any delivery requests at all, but rather that the few he got led to less than pleasant experiences of varied natures and causes, with Reno being the main cause of Cloud's misery.

Because of that, Reeve decided to be nice and talk, meaning persuade, meaning pressure, meaning whine at, Rufus so that the young president would give Cloud some jobs, preferably jobs that didn't involve any interaction with Reno. Rufus eventually agreed on one condition, with Reeve having given Cloud his recommendation, the final vote of confidence came in the form of an insurance contract where Reeve would take care of all the expenses involved in restoring everything to the way it was if Cloud ever messed up a job, provided that the delivery boy was the one at fault and that it could be proven that Reno was not in the ten mile radius at the time of the problem.

Several witnesses could testify that Reno was in Healin Lodge when Cloud's accident outside Edge occurred, just over ten miles away. Thus as stated by the contract, Reeve had to uphold his end of the deal. "Fine, I'll pay for the cargo that was destroyed, what was it anyway?"

"A fruit basket," Cloud muttered.

"It was a good will present from Shinra to the mayor of Kalm," Rufus elaborated, because that sounded so much cooler than just saying fruit basket. "That's not all you have to pay for, the contract states you have to restore everything to the way it was, Cloud here needs Fenrir repaired; we wouldn't want him to go out of business, right?"

"No we wouldn't," Reeve growled and Cloud cringed.

"I said I was sorry," the delivery boy whimpered.

"A contract is a contract," Reeve accepted his fate with a grim expression. "Alright, I will pay for Fenrir's full repairs and the fruit basket."

"Good will present," Rufus corrected, "and don't forget Cloud's medical bill."

"For what?" Reeve could see nothing wrong with Cloud's health.

"That!" Rufus pointed at the band-aid on Cloud's arm, as if telling Reeve with his expression that he was oh so insensitive for not noticing. "Reno had to give him first aid, so you'll have to pay his medical bill."

"Reno is not a doctor," Reeve pointed out, annoyed at the redhead's amusement with the entire conversation. He must have been very entertained to be this quiet.

"That's my point, he's a Turk, he's an all purpose being trained to offer transportation in a variety of vehicles, go on undercover missions, and act as a heroic knight when needed. Transportation, Undercover, Knight, that's what a Turk is. He's more expensive than a doctor and he gave Cloud his services today," Rufus insisted.

Reeve felt his head pounding; he knew there was no way he could win this argument no matter how much logic he threw out, Rufus was too good at bending it. "Transportation, undercover and knight? What about the R? Reaper?"

"Don't get off topic!" Rufus defended.

"Alright, you've won," Reeve just wanted them to leave so he could rest after getting some pain killers for his headache. "I'll pay for the fruit basket," Rufus pouted and Reeve corrected himself, "I mean the good will present, Fenrir and Reno, is that all?"

"I suppose that will do," Rufus grinned victoriously, "we'll be going now, have a nice day," he stepped out of Reeve's office followed by Reno, while Cloud stayed behind, frozen like a statue, staring at his shoes.

xoxox xox xoxox

"You know," Reno began as he and Rufus got on the WRO building's elevator, "Mr. Cat Lover is just going to ask for more funds from Shinra to take care of all the expenses. Speaking of which, will I get a bonus for playing doctor?"

Rufus frowned, "it's about the principal, but you just had to point that out and ruin it. I'm not giving you a bonus; in fact, the next WRO donation is coming out of your paycheck!"

For the rest of the day Reno tried to talk, meaning persuade, meaning pressure, meaning whine at, Rufus so that he wouldn't give his paycheck to the WRO. Unfortunately Rufus was very stubborn.

xoxox xox xoxox

Back at Reeve's office Cloud still stood there unmoving, until Reeve sent him away with a tired expression, "you can leave too."

"Sorry," Cloud apologized once more before rushing out of the office. He cared about Zack and Aeris, he really did. But couldn't they give him those spiritual messages and otherworldly pep talks when he wasn't driving?

End of Delivery 40

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. I got the idea for Delivery 40 from Kaarina Helvete, the concept was Cloud crashing his bike while he's daydreaming.


	41. Chapter 41

Deliveries

Delivery 41: Limit Break Theory

Far from being a limit break, it was a limitless break as Edge was now a broken city with random explosions all over the place and chaos, panic and turmoil reigning supreme. To think it all started because of one man's foolish curiosity and other man's foolish agreement.

xoxox xox xoxox

Many people had heard the phase 'necessity is the mother of invention' at some point in their lives. It was a reference to the adaptability of the human race and how they rose to the occasion simply because they needed to, even if they had been powerless to do anything before even if they wanted to.

The realization that there is no other choice, the understanding that it's do or die, the rush of adrenaline and the knowledge that the only hope left is the hope you create with your own power, can push one beyond the limits that seemed to be unreachable before.

It is said that everyone posses that potential, but few find themselves in a situation so dire that they awaken it. Although sometimes, even if the situation demands it, that potential is not reached because the lack of belief that it can be done is interpreted by fate as a lack of desire to accomplish it. Miracles only come to those who confidently believe in them with unwavering faith.

That aside, there could be other ways to test that theory, the limit break theory. If only the mental state and rush of adrenaline could be simulated, the possibilities could be amazing, or perhaps fatal. It might have been a fifty-fifty chance if not worse, but that would enough for it to catch Rufus' attention when Reno came into his office one day and started rambling about how many crazy deliveries Cloud could make before going on what Reno called a "super mega ultra uber awesome pwnage l337 delivery limit break of doom FTW!"

It was an interesting theory, Rufus had to admit, and what was even more peculiar was who brought this theory to his attention. To think Reno of all people would come up with a good idea, something that he could use to make transporting goods from point A to point B that much more cost effective.

Rufus paused, shook his head and took deep breath. He reached for the com-system and pressed the button, opening a communication link with the secretary positioned behind a desk in a much smaller office next to his. "Bring me a very large cup of extra strong super caffeinated coffee, not decaf, no milk, and make sure to put fifty spoons of sugar in it." Normally, one would blame craziness on too much caffeine and sugar, but this level of insanity was so great it had to be caused by a severe lack of the aforementioned substances.

Time ticked away as Reno rambled about his great idea with Rufus filtering out the sound as a well practiced habit. The door to the office was opened and the secretary came in with Rufus' coffee, setting it on the desk and quietly leaving before she caught whatever madness inducing virus the Turk and the president might have.

Rufus drank his cup of coffee without stopping, then took another deep breath after he was done, setting the empty cup on the desk. He waited for it to take effect, but somehow he was still inclined to listen to Reno's idea, which still appeared to be interesting. Maybe he was losing his mind for good.

"Alright," Rufus finally agreed, "you can test the limit break theory on Strife."

Rufus was feeling mischievous and he did have a lot of caffeine and sugar in his system, so instead of giving Cloud a lot of crazy deliveries to make, he paid Tifa, who needed the money since she had Marlene, Denzel, Cloud and herself to feed, a generous bribe to assist him on catching the delivery boy off guard and handcuffing him to the unsuspecting redhead Turk. Little did he know that because of this situation, Edge would be doomed.

End of Delivery 41

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 41 was inspired by a review from Holly-Sama. 


	42. Chapter 42

Deliveries

Delivery 42: The Perfect Gift

Cloud Strife cursed his luck; he should have known that cruel fate would have him stuck with Reno again. While Cloud took care of buying some polish so that Vincent could keep his golden claw and shoes all nice and shiny, Reno poked a pyramid of polish cans that was neatly arranged on display at the store. The frustrated blond delivery boy had told his annoying redhead companion to stop several times, but Reno being Reno, did not heed the warning until the pyramid of cans fell apart loudly.

"I'm warning you," the store manager, who was stuck playing cashier for the day as well, gave Cloud a seriously creepy look. "If your friend broke anything you'll have to pay for it," the man reminded Cloud of Mukki, which made everything that much more scary.

"He's not my friend," Cloud argued as Reno came running away from the scene of the crime.

Reno grinned casually Cloud, "ready to leave, pal?"

The man who looked like Mukki took Cloud's gil, which the delivery boy had hastily dropped on the counter rather than handing it in, gave him a suspicious look, up and down, then finally bagged the polish can and gave it to Cloud. He then went off to examine the damage on the other side of the small store, while keeping an eye on the two men. Cloud grumbled and hurried out of the store. "Where do you think you're going?" The manager called after them.

"I didn't do anything!" Reno exclaimed, "that noise came from outside, the pyramid is fine, see?" He pointed while trying to look innocent.

The manager looked towards the pyramid which was behind a small aisle, he could see the can of polish on the very top peeking out above the aisle, encased in a strange glass-like structure, though that might just be the light bouncing off the shiny cans, there was no other logical explanation. "I suppose you can go, but I'll be watching you when you come back, I'll be watching you both." Another of his detailed looks, up and down, sent both Cloud and Reno running out of the store making a silent vow never to return.

They were out front in the parking lot where their rides, a black motorcycle and a red chocobo respectively, were waiting for them. A loud crash was heard as Cloud got on Fenrir and Reno hopped on Blaze. "You used one of your pyramids to keep the pyramid of cans in the store from falling, didn't you?"

"Yeah and it sounds like that guy just broke it," confirming Reno's theory, the manager came running out of the store shouting at them. "Good thing Blaze can outrun Fenrir!" It was a fact that had saved Reno's life many times when he went too far into Cloud's bad side. A split second later, in a blur of bright red, the speedy red chocobo disappeared in the distance with Reno riding him. Cloud was soon to follow, hastily starting up Fenrir after clumsily dropping the keys twice and getting away without a second to spare.

xoxox xox xoxox

Cloud got back to the Seventh Heaven, where Vincent was waiting for the polish, it made sense why he would hire Cloud instead of just going to the store himself. The unfortunate delivery boy discovered that Reno was there as well, with his red chocobo companion being praised and spoiled by Denzel and Marlene because Blaze was just too cute.

Glaring at Reno who had ditched him in a dangerous situation, Cloud pouted deeply and stomped over to the bar where Reno and Vincent were sitting, the former testing the latter's patience with his constant rambling. "I brought your polish," he told Vincent, then looked at Reno accusingly, "and I came out of everything alive in case anyone cares!"

Vincent accepted the polish with a quiet, "thank you," and handed Cloud a bag of gil, much too big for just the polish, there was a tip included, but it wasn't all a tip. "Don't forget my other request; I must go now so I will trust you to have it ready on time." The silent dark haired man hurried out of the Seventh Heaven before he lost the will to resist the temptation of killing Reno.

"I guess I'm off to work again..." Cloud headed for the door and Reno followed him.

"C'mon Blaze time to go, you can play with your friends later," the redhead and the red chocobo hurried after Cloud who was not happy to be followed.

"Why are you following me?" Cloud was still angry about being abandoned with that creepy Mukki-look-alike at the store.

"I know about your secret mission," Reno suddenly spoke in a serious tone as if it was a scene from a suspenseful movie.

Cloud became serious as well, with a warning look that told Reno not to give away too much information, especially not in their current location. "I thought Shinra might participate, I guess I have no choice but to let you tag along, it's worse if you do this on your own."

xoxox xox xoxox

Twenty minutes later, Cloud, Reno and Blaze were walking through the Edge mall thinking about what to buy for Marlene's birthday. Vincent thought it would be rude to let a young lady's birthday pass without some form of congratulations, thus he sent Cloud to find a gift since he considered himself to be a little behind in the times to be able to accurate choose something Marlene would like. Tifa was busy baking a cake and other treats, thus she entrusted Cloud with the same mission and now Cloud found out Shinra had decided to conduct some public relations and sent Reno as their representative to deliver a birthday gift for Marlene.

"When I got me this mission, I thought they just wanted to keep me busy to get rid of me," Reno refused to shut up, making random conversation with Cloud as they walked, "but then I realize they just had no idea what to buy and thought I might get a good idea because I always get good ideas, so Shinra is counting on me!"

"I think they really did want to get rid of you," Cloud grumbled. "Either way, I don't know what to get."

"I'm getting her a time bomb building kit, so you can get an expansion pack for it with parts and extra stuff so the gifts will match," Reno replied.

He received an odd look from Cloud as soon as the blond realized it was not a joke, "what?"

Reno proceeded to explain the logic behind his brilliant idea, "Marlene is still young, but she's growing up and I thought a girl her age would prefer to be treated like a young woman rather than a kid."

"What does a bomb have to do with that?" Cloud failed to see the logic.

"Women like that kind of thing," Reno stated as a matter of fact, "don't you know anything? Women love weapons of mass destruction and anything that creates flashy explosions. Marlene is turning into a young lady so pretty soon she'll be interested in all that stuff."

Cloud opened his mouth and closed it again like a fish. He was in no way an expert on the subject and for all he knew Reno's theory about a young lady's approaching adolescence might be true. "Are you sure about that?"

Reno nodded, he was a Turk the kind of women he was around were all cruel sadists even if they hid it underneath a sweet appearance, though one could theorize that Turk or not, all women were sadistic by nature. Even the rookie had a very scary side that Reno knew not to provoke.

"Well if you're sure..." Cloud paused, the dilemma was not truly solved, they knew what to get but not where to get it, "so where do we find a time bomb kit and expansion packs?"

Reno laughed at the obvious question, "we're in Edge's mall, we can find anything here!" Then the trio of two men and a chocobo went off to find what they were sure would be the perfect gift.

End of Delivery 42

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. For a sequel to Delivery 41 read Mission 70 of the Missions collection. :D Delivery 42 was requested by Sharem, the concept was polish, a gift for Marlene and Reno complications. 


	43. Chapter 43

Deliveries

Delivery 43: Heavy

Cloud Strife was a quiet man, more than a little on the emotional side, with a tendency to go emo. He had a huge crush on his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart, who liked him as well and tried to tell him on many occasions, but Cloud was either too stupid to understand or clumsily ruined the mood. He had a variety of unfortunate things happen to him, such as accidentally making Tifa angry several times due to being misunderstood.

Cloud lived a sad life as a delivery boy struggling to make ends meet while freeloading on Tifa, as if he didn't have enough difficulties expressing his feelings as it was. To top it all up, there was a red haired pest that came and went as he pleased, making Cloud's life even more miserable. There was nothing he could do about Reno of the Turks, he was a good customer to Tifa and she had bills to pay and mouths to feed, which more often than not included his.

Cloud and Tifa had two children, neither of them their biological family, but they might as well have adopted the kids. Marlene's official adoptive father was never around and Denzel had no living relatives either. Thus they both lived with Tifa and Cloud completing their strange little family. Sometimes, Cloud didn't think life was so bad, he could almost smile sometimes, then Reno would pop out of seemingly no where and do something that would break the concentration Cloud was building up to remember how to smile.

Everyone had their own burden to carry, some would say, Cloud thought of that while he delivered a new refrigerator up the stairs of Healin Lodge, he thought of many things, of his misery and other depressing thoughts, since the activity of pushing a refrigerator up stairs wasn't exactly pleasant or cheerful.

Rufus Shinra thought he was doing him a favor by hiring him, in a sense he was, but in another he wasn't. Either way it was amusing to watch so Rufus won. Reno had apparently broken the old refrigerator, who knows how that happened, but the machine had stopped working.

"Everything happens for a reason," Cloud caught a piece of a conversation taking place at Healin Lodge on the top of the stairs, in the balcony where the show could be easily seen. It was Rufus who said that, he was talking about replacing the refrigerator, but Cloud was too focused in his task to catch the while conversation and took it out of context concluding that Rufus could say deep things sometimes, unlike Reno who seemed to never take anything seriously.

Cloud had to stop to think, to reanalyze his life and to give thanks for the good things in it. He set the refrigerator on one of the steps, holding it so it wouldn't tilt and go tumbling down. Then Reno popped up out of nowhere as he usually did to ruin things. "Yo Cloud! Did you get tired?" He peeked out from the top of the refrigerator pushing it enough to make it slip into the next step. Cloud managed to steady it, but it crushed his toes, making his scream of agony echo.

Cloud had to manage to get the refrigerator up to Healin Lodge with broken toes. It didn't help that Reno accidentally stepped on his foot after the delivery was made, before he could get himself out of his the range of Reno's trouble energy waves. Cloud wanted to decapitate the red haired pest, but couldn't bring himself to do it; a depressing creature such as himself had no right to end the life of a being that was smiling 99% of the time.

The unfortunate delivery boy made his way down the stairs, to Fenrir, forgot to collect his pay and had to go back up to get it, down again, and finally he drove home to the Seventh Heaven.

Cloud didn't have the energy to go on more deliveries so e procrastinated and left them for tomorrow. Tifa came to greet him and stepped on his foot by accident; Cloud swallowed his agonized cry this time and struggled up the stairs to his room.

Finally, a few minutes later, Tifa appeared at the door, "Reno called and told me you hurt your toes, why didn't you say so?"

"It doesn't matter..." Cloud pouted, he was laying on his bed on his back, his shoes were off and his toes were turning purple.

"Of course it does!" Then Tifa spoiled and babied Cloud for the whole day. Maybe things really did happen for a reason, to remind him that he didn't have to carry the full weight of life on his own.

End of Delivery 43

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 43 is for Plushietiger, the concept was something heavy falling on Cloud's toes. 


	44. Chapter 44

Deliveries

Delivery 44: Shade Vision

It was a quiet morning in the Seventh Heaven when Cloud went downstairs as usual and stopped as he found something most unusual in front of the bar. He looked at the large package almost as big as him. He observed it from different angles, other than the size it looked normal enough. It was a big rectangular box set vertically, wrapped in brown paper with a white label on one side, with black writing. He looked at the address, catching the word Shinra right away.

The package was apparently for Rude, which Tifa soon confirmed also explaining that, "it was brought in very early today. I think they could have taken it to Shinra's headquarters, but they were instructed to deliver it here. Your job is to take it to Shinra and you've already been paid," she handed him a white envelope with his name in black ink on top, followed by the name of his company, Cloud Strife, Strife Delivery Service.

Cloud received the envelope and opened it, finding a single gil within, "cheap," he grumbled indignantly, there was no way he was going to deliver that huge box for such a low payment.

"Actually, the payment was quite generous, I just took the liberty of subtracting your living expenses for the past few months from it," Tifa clarified with a satisfied grin. For once she wouldn't have to stretch her gil to immeasurable proportions for the sake of making ends meet for the month, though she would still watch her budget because Cloud didn't always make this much and even more rarely paid for his food.

Cloud froze for a moment, his jaw ajar, his eyes blinking rapidly, "oh," he shifted uncomfortably, transferring the weight of his body from one foot to another. "Well I guess I should deliver this then..."

A moment of awkward silence passed until Tifa finally spoke again, "yes, you should," she encouraged Cloud to get going.

"But it bothers me," he complained pouting, "it's bad enough that Edge is basically living on Rufus' charity, because we all know he funds the WRO, now Rude is doing things like this too?"

Tifa wanted to ask if it was okay to live on her charity then, but instead chouse to word it more gently by saying, "you should be thankful for the help you receive."

Cloud looked sad, his guilt increasing, he had been dragging a different burden lately, "I guess..." he turned his attention towards the box and stretched his arms in preparation. He positioned himself in front of it with his feet apart and bent his knees, doing a few squats and arm flexes as a warm-up. Then he wrapped his arms around the box and focused all his strength in lifting it, which resulted in him falling backwards and throwing the box up against the ceiling, it was as light as a feather. The box collided with the lamp above and fell down on top of Cloud, who easily pushed it away in indignant embarrassment.

"Cloud Strife!" Tifa scolded, "how could you throw the box, what if you broke whatever is inside? I can't believe you would do this after Rude went out of his way to help!"

"I didn't mean to!" Cloud knew he wouldn't get out of this so easily despite his kicked puppy expression.

"You better see that it's not broken!" Tifa was upset and in her anger she didn't think of the consequences of opening the box.

Not wanting to provoke Tifa further, Cloud opened up the box and found a lot of foam pieces and something in bubble wrap. He pulled the thing out and took the bubble wrap off, it was another box. He opened it and found the same scene in a smaller proportion. The action was repeated seven times before Cloud found the item contained inside the multitude of boxes bubble wrap and foam, a pair of shades. He curiously tried them on but the world was distorted, "everything looks weird."

"Oh no, are they broken?" The multiple boxes, bubble wrap and foam were exaggerated and Tifa suspected the interference of Reno in arranging the packaging, it was hard to believe the shades could break with all that protection. She took the shades and tried them on, but the world also looked strange, "now I see, that's why."

"That's why what?" Cloud just hoped that the shades weren't too badly damaged or he might suffer the wrath of Tifa, all because of Rude, which made it that much worse.

"It's the mystery of why Rude never takes off his shades even indoors or at night," Tifa replied, feeling victorious at having solved it, though she still intended to give Cloud another piece of her mind for his carelessness. "It's because Rude's shades are also glasses, it's a prescription, that's why it won't work for everyone," thus one of the mysteries of the world was finally solved.

End of Delivery 44

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. For a sequel to Delivery 43, read Mission 72. A lot of my FFVII stories were inspired by the Shinra Database RPG. It's a blog style RPG where characters post once a week, I play Reno. It's hilarious so I highly recommend you watch the shinra_database community on livejournal. Delivery 44 was requested by Agatsuma Ritsuka, the concept was Rude ordering glasses. 


	45. Chapter 45

Deliveries

Delivery 45: Husband

It took Cloud a good forty-five minutes of begging and pleading to make Tifa understand that he was not engaged to anyone, let alone the rich old woman who announced her engagement to him on the newspaper. The ancient fossil, I mean, the old lady, could no longer count on her eye sight for much and got Reno mixed up with Cloud when the redhead had to spend the day taking care of the blond's deliveries, after making yet another of his famous messes where Cloud had to suffer the consequences again.

The sweet old lady had given Reno cookies, convinced that he was Cloud, and asked about a certain something she had requested of Cloud. Reno, without knowing what the request was about, agreed to it, thus accepting Cloud's engagement to her.

"So you're telling me this is all Reno's fault?" Tifa finally seemed to understand, "that does make sense."

"Yes, it's his fault!" Cloud stressed, "now what am I going to do? What if I break off the engagement and she's so sad she drops dead right there and then, I mean she is old and fragile, then I'll be a murderer!"

"So you're going to marry her?" Tifa knew this was a lose-lose situation as well as Cloud did.

"Of course not!" On the verge of a nervous breakdown that would probably leave him comatose, Cloud sat at the bar, "Tifa, what should I do?"

"Reno got you into this mess so he should get you out!" Tifa insisted.

Cloud vigorously shook his head, his blond spikes not even moving, hardened with a helmet of gel, "I can't let him interfere anymore. He got me into this mess by trying to fix another mess from earlier, he broke my toes and that's why he was doing my deliveries, remember?"

"That's a good point," Tifa acknowledged, "but that doesn't change the fact that Reno needs to learn to clean up after himself, I'm going to call him."

"No!" Cloud glomped Tifa, trying to stop her from calling, "do you know what the ultimate doom is? Do you know what my biggest curse is? Do you know what a sure disaster is? Do you know the name of true despair?" Cloud dramatized, still holding on to Tifa. "Reno! Reno! Reno!"

The aforementioned red haired Turk entered the Seventh Heaven, his expression frightened and very un-Turk. He backed away slowly, "Cloud, please tell me you don't always call out my name when you make out with Tifa."

"Cloud Strife, get your hands off me!" It came to light just how Cloud was glomping Tifa, he let her go immediately, but she slapped him anyway.

"Oh no, you even got her to wear goggles just like mine, what's next? You'll whine at Tifa until she agrees to dye her hair red? I'm seriously going to be creeped out if you do that, even more than I am now!" Reno continued to back away slowly until his back hit a wall.

"Why are you wearing Reno's goggles?" Cloud inquired suspiciously, he knew there was something different about Tifa, but in his panic to explain his dilemma, he couldn't figure out what it was. Now he knew, what was out of place were Reno's goggles on her head.

"Because, Reno forgot his goggles here the other day and I wanted to remember to return them," she removed the goggles handing them to Reno.

"So that's where they went, I thought my collection looked smaller," Reno eyed Cloud suspiciously, "so, this isn't part of anything weird?"

"You know what's weird?" Cloud growled, "your strange ability to get me into trouble!" He took the newspaper and pointed out the engagement ad.

"You're getting married to that old hag?" Reno gasped in surprised, "wow, who would have thought, you just got even weirder, yo!"

"You're the one who got me engaged to her so now you have to solve it!" Cloud yelled, "Tifa was right, you should be the one to fix this mess, how much worse can it get? You'll fix this even if you have to marry her in my place, it's not like she'll be able to tell the difference!"

If not because Reno was already against the wall, he would have backed away more. "Wait, you said she can't tell the difference, right? So why don't I just send someone else to take your place?"

xoxox xox xoxox

The next day Cloud received two messages, one from the old lady breaking off their engagement and explaining that she understood could not stand in the way of true love. It was apparently something that she realized after Cloud's so called soul mate went to see her with a tearful confession of undying love for Cloud. Tifa denied over and over ever visiting the old lady.

The second message confirmed Tifa's innocence and revealed Reno's plan. "Reno!" Cloud yelled at Reno, who had shown up at the Seventh Heaven that day to give his report, claiming that everything was alright. "Why did you send Mukki to the old lady?"

"I was trying to play matchmaker, I mean they're both clearly desperate if they like you, so they have that in common. I didn't expect it to turn out like this, but it's not so bad, I mean you're not engaged anymore and Mukki already liked you before!" Reno tried to defend himself.

"Of course it's worse, if you're involved, it has to be worse, I shouldn't have let you fix things after all, I never learn," Cloud dramatized exasperated, even if it looked like a situation couldn't get any worse, Reno could always make it worse.

A somewhat amused, "oh oh," escaped Tifa as she looked at the newspaper, which caused Cloud to rush over to see. The rich old lady had decided that she would give up on marrying Cloud, but instead she would support Mukki. The newspaper was full of ads with 'Cloud+Mukki' on them and several variations of this surrounded by hearts. Cloud promptly fainted and while he was out, Reno made his get away.

End of Delivery 45

Delivery 45 is a sequel to Mission 72, requested by demonlifehealer. 


	46. Chapter 46

Deliveries

Delivery 46: Candy

On one side there was Shinra and on the other Edge. On one side stood Rufus, Reno, Rude, Tseng and Elena, while on the other there was a group of upset parents, In-between there was Cloud, Reeve and a large group of hyper children including Marlene and Denzel.

It had all stated that day at lunch, when Marlene and Denzel made their way to the school cafeteria. As independent students they were home schooled most of the time, but also attended school sometimes, mostly for testing. This was one of those finals weeks when Marlene and Denzel had to be in school for basically the entire week, the whole day for five days.

"My brain is in pain," Denzel complained, math would be the death of him.

"Mine too," Marlene agreed solemnly, "and now it's lunch time," she didn't sound happy about that at all.

Denzel twisted his nose in disgust, if only his lunch troubles were something simple like odd smelling mystery meat. Oh no, it wasn't that at all, the problem was the load of unappetizing looking vegetables on display behind glass. "We're not chocobos, we shouldn't eat greens."

"It's Reeve's fault," Marlene reminded, he was the one who insisted on giving the schools a healthy menu. Having healthy food available for those who wanted it, meaning old antiquated teachers, was one thing, but decent tasty food should also be available for those who ate for the sake of taste and filling their tummies and not for some something stupid like attempting to somehow relieve their multiple old age aches and pains, which would not go away anyway.

"I never thought I would be saying this, but I miss radioactive mystery meat," Denzel confessed, "I've been doing math all morning; I'm fed up with yucky stuff." Denzel began to make his way out of the school cafeteria.

Marlene glanced at the unappetizing menu again and before her face turned as green as the vegetables in disgust, she hurried after Denzel, "this sucks."

Denzel totally agreed, "one day I'm going to join the Turks and get revenge on Reeve for this."

"Me too," Marlene decided. Then they saw a familiar red blur zoom by, followed by a black one that came to a screeching halt.

"I won!" Reno jumped off Blaze with a large box.

Cloud grumbled, "it wasn't a race," despite saying that he had been working on Fenrir trying to make it faster, but could not keep up with Reno's red chocobo, Blaze. "I give up, what kind of greens have you been feeding Blaze to make him so fast?"

"Greens?" Reno looked both disgusted and offended, "what kind of a cruel father would I be if I fed my baby greens? I give him yummy stuff like cookies, cake, ice-cream, candy, that sort of thing."

Cloud sighed hopelessly; Fenrir would be forever doomed to be in second place whenever he raced Reno, "of course, nothing beats a sugar high chocobo."

"That's right!" Reno confirmed, he opened the large box and took out a bag of jellybeans, "here you go Blaze, have a snack."

Cloud's eyes widened, "I thought we were supposed to deliver healthy snacks to the school."

"The contract Reeve signed said good snacks and these are good," Reno explained as Blaze devoured the jellybeans.

Marlene and Denzel immediately rushed over to Reno and gave him big sweet smiles, "can we have some candy, uncle Reno?" They chorused.

"Of course, we brought this candy for all the kids here, but since you two are my pals, you get to choose the best candy first," Reno set the box down and allowed Marlene and Denzel to take what they wanted from it.

Cloud opened up the box he had as well, by then they had been surrounded by hungry children who smelled the sugar of salvation. They handed out all the candy and the kids were hyper through the afternoon.

That evening, a group of parents confronted the proprietary, manager, supervisor, secretary, stock holder, and one and only employee of Strife Delivery Service, Cloud Strife, about the hyper state of their kids. They also extended their accusations towards the sponsor of the event, Reeve Tuesti, though the money actually came from a donation from Rufus Shinra, since the WRO was as much of a freeloader of Shinra as Cloud was of Tifa.

The blame was redirected towards Reno, who surprisingly stepped forward and claimed full responsibility for the event. That was when Cloud and Reeve knew that Shinra was up to something. Rufus then called everyone's attention to a list containing the grades of the children from their afternoon tests in comparison to the morning tests of that day. It was a well known fact by those who were still young or young at heart that the more hyper you are, the better you will be at guessing during multiple choice bubble tests.

The parents were tricked into thinking the candies were super vitamins that enhanced the brain, but the children saw through the excuse right away. The fact that uncle Reno and his friends not only gave them candy, but also helped them get away with eating only candy for lunch, made them all the more cool.

Cloud and Reeve missed out on taking the credit, while Rufus and the Turks looked victorious. Children were the future after all and the future would be loyal to Shinra.

End of Delivery 46

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 46 was requested by Circle of Phoenix. 


	47. Chapter 47

As some of you may know I've been mostly writing my pokemon novel 'Don't Give Me Diamonds'. It looks like it will be my longest story yet! I'll continue updating my FFVII and VIII collections when that's done. Until then, here's a little something that was inspired by the Shinra Database live journal role play.

Deliveries

Delivery 47: Admiration

Cloud Strife did not like Rufus Shinra. In fact, he did more than just dislike him, he strongly disliked him. It wasn't hate, not anymore, if it ever was, but it was still a strong dislike. Even so cloud had to make a living somehow, even if it meant working for Shinra making little meaningless deliveries to Rufus in-between his jobs for Reeve.

This time Cloud was entrusted with delivering over the counter medicine to Rufus' office, as the president was suffering from a cold. As soon as he entered the Shinra building he shivered. It felt like being outside near Icicle without a coat. Cloud though he might as well get it over with as soon as possible so he hurried to the elevator with the bag from the pharmacy on hand.

As the elevator went up, the atmosphere got colder. Edge was suffering from a summer heat wave. The sun was brutal so cloud had been looking forward to Shinra's air conditioner, but this was too much. Cloud finally reached the top floor; he stepped out of the elevator and fell. The floor was covered in ice. A big red chocobo with ice skates passed by. "This is Shinra," Cloud reminded himself, "expect the unexpected." He recognized the chocobo to be Blaze, Reno's chocobo who, being raised by the red head as his son turned out to be a lot like his father.

With some difficulty cloud finally made it inside Rufus' office to find total chaos. "Cloud, help!" Nanaki jumped into Cloud's arms, tackling him to the floor in the process. "Reno wants to make me pull a sleigh, make him stop."

"Don't be such a baby!" Reno complained, he was wearing a fuzzy red hooded coat. Despite the summer heat outside, a coat was very much needed inside the Shinra building. "There's no Snow but there's plenty of ice in the upper floors. That should be close enough."

"Why don't you get Blaze to pull your sleigh?" Nanaki protested.

"He's a chocobo, chocobos are to ride on not to pull sleighs. Besides, he's busy practicing his skating," Reno argued.

Rufus was shivering behind his desk with a coat and blanket. He was trying to type something, but lacked the precision to do so at the moment. His face was red from his fever and anger. "Outside..." he strained his pained throat, "go play outside!"

"Yes, sir!" Reno chased Nanaki out of the office.

Cloud was finally able to stand. He picked up the bag with the medicine and placed it on Rufus' desk, "here's the delivery."

"Here's your payment," Rufus gave Cloud some gil and opened a bottle of cold medicine with shaking hands.

Feeling sorry for the president's state Cloud offered, "let me get you some water for that. He went to little refrigerator in a corner of the office and got some cool water in a moogle mug.

Rufus accepted the water, took his medicine and voice something incomprehensible, which Cloud assumed to be a word of thanks.

"Can I ask what in the world is going on?" Cloud was still shivering and he wanted to get out of there, but his curiosity would keep bothering him if he left without knowing the origins of the craziness.

"It was hot so Reno turned on the sprinklers and air conditioner in the upper floors. I ended up catching a cold because of it," Rufus explained. "We managed to get the sprinklers under control but Reno broke the air conditioner controls. Until they're fixed, the building is stuck in this cold temperature. The water from the sprinklers flooded a few inches and was frozen into a layer of ice. I don't know how, but Reno tricked your friend into coming here and he's been chasing him around trying to get him to pull a sleigh."

"Wow," Cloud was amazed. He sometimes had a hard time putting up with Reno, but Rufus did that practically all the time. At that moment cloud could feel no dislike for Rufus. The Shinra president was strong, patient and merciful. Cloud could feel nothing but the greatest admiration for him.

End of Delivery 47

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. 


	48. Chapter 48

Deliveries

Delivery 48: Special Present

"Okay Tifa, you can do this," Tifa told her reflection. She was alone in her room after having closed the Seventh Heaven early that day. She had enough of hinting to Cloud that she liked him and getting no response in return, unless the response was a misunderstanding. Those were eventually forgiven, but in the end things were left at that. Nothing changed, nothing new developed, they were stuck.

With Cloud seemingly unable to get over his embarrassment about past mess-ups, it was up to Tifa to make things clear for him. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she grimaced, was she really going through with it? She took a deep breath, "it's okay, even if I make a fool of myself it'll be worth it in the long run... I hope."

Tifa put her plan into action. She changed into her red bikini and picked up the golden wrapping paper. She wrapped it around herself, holding together with red ribbons. Once she was all wrapped up as a present, she picked up the gift box she had prepared and went to Cloud's room.

Tifa set the large gift box down in Cloud's room and crawled into it. He just had one more delivery to make so he would return soon. She tried to relax as she waited and soon she fell asleep.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later, Cloud returned to the Seventh Heaven and let himself in with his spare key. There didn't seem to be any signs of anyone there. The kids must still be visiting the Gold Saucer with Barret. Cloud could picture Marlene and Denzel being all hyper and driving Barret insane.

The exhausted delivery boy noticed that there was a big box in his room, with shiny golden wrapping paper and a red ribbon on top. The box had no address and the lid seemed to be loose as if it could be easily lifted off without breaking the wrapping.

Cloud shrugged and carefully picked up the box. When in doubt, assume the content is breakable; that was one of the rules of survival for delivery people that he learned the hard way. The box had to be for Rufus, all the fancy looking boxes he delivered these days were for Rufus. He though he was done for the day, but what was one more delivery? Besides, Rufus might give him a tip.

xoxox xox xoxox

Tifa didn't wake up until a voice called her name, "Tifa?" Cloud had already left, oblivious to the trouble he caused. The box's lid was removed and light invaded the space inside, where Tifa had been sleeping curled into a ball.

"Rufus?" She examined her surroundings. What was she doing in Rufus' office?

"I have to say, this has been the most original marriage proposal I've received this entire week," Rufus commended. "I'm surprised Strife played along and actually delivered the box, or did you trick him into it? I suppose I could do you the honor of going out with you, since you went though all this trouble." Tifa's glare was so potent that Rufus had to back away. "I should warn you," the president stammered, "I prefer women who are not murderous sadists."

Tifa growled at him, her glare still deathly. However, Rufus was not her target. As soon as she got back home and changed out of the wrapping paper into decent clothing comfortable for combat, Cloud Strife was dead.

End of Delivery 48

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII. Delivery 48 is a companion drabble to Mission 76, which I will post very soon. 


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